Pilgrimage of students from Kalamaria to the City of Cities
Unique moments, full of blessing, which will remain indelibly etched in hearts for a long time, were lived out by the members of the student unions of the Holy Metropolis of Nea Krini and Kalamaria during the three-day pilgrimage to Constantinople, held from March 31 to April 2.
The inspiration for this idea was His Eminence Metropolitan Ioustinos of Nea Krini and Kalamaria, who, in the context of the weekly student gatherings, in which he himself heads, as a catechist, planned this pilgrimage and accompanied the students.
During this three-day pilgrimage to the City of Cities, the participants had the opportunity to visit the Holy Trinity Monastery of Halki, where the eerily silent Theological School is located, also the venerable centre of Orthodoxy , the Ecumenical Patriarchate, at the Phanar, the grace-filled Agiasma (Sanctified Spring) of Zoodochos Pigi, the Holy Monastery of Zoodochos Pigi, in Baloukli, the Holy Monastery of Panagia of Blacherna, the Great Church of much-celebrated Hagia Sophia, the Holy Church of the Holy Trinity in the Stavrodromi district, in Taksim Square, also they were blessed to pray together in the Service of the Akathist Hymn, in the Holy Patriarchal Church of Saint George and to enjoy an evening boat tour of the beautiful districts of the Bosphorus Straits.
The highlight of the pilgrimage was the meeting of the group of students with the Head of the Church and our pious Genus, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
His All-Holiness received and welcomed, with much paternal love, the group of students in the Throne Room. Despite the heavy load of his program, he spoke to the students with warmth of heart, with paternalism but also with simplicity, recalling the indestructible spiritual ties of the Venerable Ecumenical Centre with the Church of Greece and the Greeks.
With heartache, he referred to key issues that concern and shock the modern world, while, at the end, deeply moved, he blessed the students present, pointing out to them their sacred obligation to honour their spiritual womb, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and to visit Constantinople regularly.
On behalf of the students, the Theology graduate Mr. Spyridon Keloglou and the student of the Polytechnic School, Ms. Vasiliki Pliaki, addressed His All-Holiness.
On the last day of the pilgrimage, Sunday, 2 April 2023, the pilgrims attended the Divine Liturgy at the Venerable Patriarchal Church. After the dismissal, the student group left for Alexandroupolis, where on behalf of the local Shepherd, Metropolitan Anthimos, his Chancellor, Fr. Irenaios Laftsis, warmly welcomed the students and hosted them with kind hospitality.
It should be noted that, both during the group’s visit to the Holy Church of the Holy Trinity in Stavrodromi, and during the pilgrimage to the Holy Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Halki, the Hierarchs responsible there, His Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Forty Churches and His Grace Bishop Kassianos of Aravissos, respectively, served fasting meals to the visiting students.
Late in the evening the members of the student union arrived safely in Kalamaria.
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