St. George Cathedral of Stockholm
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Your Graces,
Reverend Members of the Clergy,
Honorable Ambassadors & Consuls General,
Esteemed Guests,
Dearly Beloved People of God,
Χριστός Ανέστη – Christ is Risen!
I give praise to the Risen Lord for the ten years in the episcopacy that He has granted me until today and I thank everyone for honoring me today with your prayers and presence.
Jag prisar den Uppståndne Herren för de tio år som han fram till idag har givit mig i biskopsämbetet och jag tackar er alla för att ni har hedrat mig idag med era böner och er närvaro.
Jag ber er alla att fortsatt hålla mig i era böner, och jag lovar att göra detsamma för er. Tack.
I am eternally grateful to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the trust he placed in me to serve the Eparchy of the Venerable Center of Orthodoxy in Scandinavia.
I am also grateful to my ever-memorable predecessors Metropolitans Polyeuktos and Pavlos, the Holy Clergy and the faithful people of the Holy Metropolis, the volunteers, parish councils, chanters, religious instructors, and the Philoptochos, for their unwavering support to the progress of our local Church.
Joining us today are two beloved brother Hierarchs, fellow Cross-bearers on the road to Emmaus, which passes through the Crucifixion but ends in the Resurrection: His Excellency Metropolitan Agathangelos of Fanarion, Director General of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, and His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Kydonies from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Agathangelos, together with his board and exceptional associates, continues to aid the Holy Metropolis of Sweden through the publications that he offers us, the most recent ones being my studies on St. Nectarios of Pentapolis and the ever-memorable Elder Eusevios Vittis, a study that extolls Fr. Eusevios’ missionary ministry and is dedicated to His Eminence Metropolitan Agathangelos. We welcome him once again together with his venerable entourage.
Metropolitan Athenagoras has been a fraternal friend since our youth, a tireless supporter, counselor, and co-laborer in the Lord’s vineyard. I am grateful to him and I welcome him here once again.
I also thank my beloved Fr. Demetrios Demosthenous, his Presvytera, their son, and their daughter Ioanna, who is studying here, for coming from Cyprus to honor us with their presence here today and adorning the chanter’s stand of our Cathedral with their angelic voices.
I kindly ask all of you to keep me in your prayers, as I pledge to do likewise. Thank you.
Jag ber er alla att fortsatt hålla mig i era böner, och jag lovar att göra detsamma för er. Tack.