His Grace Metropolitan-Elect Iakovos of Mexico came before His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 25 January 2024, to take part in the ceremony of the Lesser Minima (Announcement)
“The universality of the Venerable Ecumenical Throne is expressed through its universal and timeless message, but also through the extent and breadth of its territorial jurisdiction, which extends to many countries and continents”, said His All-Holiness addressing His Grace Metropolitan-Elect Iakovos and continued:
“A province remote from this Sacred Centre is the Holy Metropolis of Mexico, whose Shepherd was elected yesterday unanimously by the respected members of our Holy and Sacred Synod, following the transfer of its first Shepherd and Hierarch to the Holy Metropolis of Vize.
For this great honour given to your person we congratulate you, and all my brothers bless from the depths of their hearts the beginnings of your pastorate, for which there are the best omens thanks to your young age, and therefore the capacity for action and expenditure in the ministry of a very extensive province, also thanks to your vast and extensive education, language skills, financial knowledge and experience you gained in Greece from various responsible positions and from your participation in inter-Christian and international organisations”.
His Holiness added that the Metropolitan-Elect of Mexico is also accompanied by the wishes and prayers of His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, “at whose side you have faithfully and dutifully ministered during the last few years”.
“With these rich provisions and qualities”, said the Patriarch, “the Mother Church, of whose body you have now become part of, sends you to your new responsible mission as a hierarch and shepherd of a multicultural province, with absolute certainty that you will succeed and honour its name and its glorious past, you will glorify the heavenly name of the Supreme Hierarch Christ and you will always give us who honour you and here in our Sacred Centre the joy and satisfaction of boasting in the Lord because of you.”
In His response, His Grace Metropolitan-Elect Iakovos of Mexico expressed his deep gratitude to the Ecumenical Patriarch “for the unlimited and great amount of love shown to me”, but also his sincere thanks to the members of the Holy and Sacred Synod, “for the inclusion of my humble self, with your honourable vote, into the respected chorus of the Hierarchs of the Venerable Ecumenical Throne, the sacred spiritual heritage and the indescribable canonical privileges of which I pledge, before God and men, to preserve and defend until my last breath”. He also expressed warm thanks to His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece, for his unwavering paternal affection and his unreserved consent for the promotion of his candidacy.
“The Great Church sends me to serve a missionary Metropolis with a flock scattered in many countries. I promise to continue the work of my predecessor and first Shepherd of this Province, His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Vize , in harmonious cooperation with Their Graces my fellow brother Bishops and the holy clergy”, His Grace said, among other things.
Then, in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the presence of the Synodal Hierarchs, the Patriarchal Court as well as other clergy and lay pilgrims, His Grace Metropolitan-Elect Iakovos of Mexico then performed the Service of the Greater Minima, during which his election was announced to him in church, and he responded with the text of thanksgiving for the Church’s approval of his person, accepting the “act of command” with emotion and gratitude.
After the conclusion of the Service of the Great Message, His Grace received the congratulations and wishes of all those who were present.
