The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on Sunday officiated at the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, in the village of Glyky, on the northeast Aegean Island of Imvros.
Glyky is the ancestral village of scholar Hieromonk Bartholomew Koutloumousianos, who was born and raised on the island of Imvros in the late 18th century.
Commemorative events were held by the Holy Metropolis of Imvros and Tenedos on the occasion of the 250 years of his birth.
The services were co-officiated by several hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne, in the presence of foreign diplomats, Archons of the Offikalioi of the Great Church of Jesus Christ in Constantinople, the presidents of the associations of natives of Imvros in Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as numerous faithful.
On his part, His All Holiness emotionally referred to Glyky and the old Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, in which, as he said, “the people of Glyky testified their repentance and hopes, their joy and pain, celebrating the great days of our tradition. Here the important moments of their lives were blessed, here they drew strength for the struggle of survival and prosperity.”