The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, touched on the canonizations decided by the Sacred and Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate over the past years, speaking during his pastoral visit to Athens earlier this month.
At the time, His All Holiness also described his friendship and acquaintance with St. Amphilochios Makris of Patmos.
The statements by the Primate of the Mother Church came during His celebration of the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of All Saints, held at the Holy Cathedral of St. George in the Penteli district of north Athens, a day before a return to the Patriarchal see in Constantinople.
Upon returning to Constantinople, His All Holiness welcomed the Church of Greece’s visiting Metropolitan of Kalavryta & Aigialias, His Eminence Ieronymos, who arrived in the Bosporus metropolis for a pilgrimage.
During the meeting, His Eminence gifted the Ecumenical Patriarch an exact replica of the precious Banner of St. Lavra, whose unfurling marked the beginning of the Greek War of Independence in southern Greece against dour Ottoman rule — in March 1821.
