On the evening of Wednesday, 4 March, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida celebrated the Service of the Presanctified Gifts at the Holy Monastery of Saint David the Elder in Limni, Euboea.
During the service, His Eminence performed the monastic tonsure of the long-time novice of the Holy Monastery, Konstantinos Koukouros, to whom he gave the name Kyrillos.
In an atmosphere of reverence and spiritual joy, the sacred services were attended by His Grace Bishop Nikodimos of Skopelos, Archimandrites Ieronymos Schizas, Protosyncellus of the Holy Metropolis of Lemnos and Agios Efstratios, and Dionysios Golias, who comes from the Holy Metropolis of Kitros and Katerini and is a professor at the School for the Training of Candidate Clergy of Vella in Ioannina, as well as many other clergy, members of monastic brotherhoods, and faithful pilgrims from the birthplace of the new monk, Nea Artaki, and from other parts of the local Church, who prayed for the spiritual strengthening of the new monk.
In his instructive homily, His Eminence Chrysostomos stated that on the difficult path of monasticism the new monk will not be alone, but will have Christ as his supporter, who assured us that He will not abandon us until the end of the world. Particularly moving, he said, is the phrase heard in the service of the monastic schema: even if a mother might forget her child, God will never abandon us. His Eminence expressed the wish that this love of Christ would strengthen the love in the heart of the new monk for Christ.
His Eminence also noted that the name Kyrillos, given to the new monk, is the name of Saint Kyrillos, Archbishop of Alexandria, the champion of Orthodoxy and defender of the true teaching concerning the Theotokos. At the same time, the new name honours the memory of the late former abbot of the Holy Monastery, Archimandrite Kyrillos Gerantonis, who was distinguished for his tireless diligence on behalf of the monastery until the end of his life, as well as for the depth of theology into which he was deemed worthy to enter through ascetic struggle and prayer, despite his limited formal education.
After the dismissal (“Through the prayers…”), everyone offered their good wishes to the new monk and enjoyed the hospitality of the abbot, Archimandrite Gabriel Emmanouilidis, and the brotherhood of the monastery.
Photographs: Paraskevi Spyropoulou
