Friday, May 19, 2023

ZAGREB KOM 8 • D. Shostakovich: Piano trio No.1 in C minor, op.8 - Zagreb International Chamber Music Festival,Croatia

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Arrives in Athens - revised

At noon on 19 May 2023,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in Athens,Greece on a Vista Jet private flight.His formal visit began with a meeting at the Archdiocese of Athens with His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece.The accession document for the Church of St.Nicholas in the Workhouse was signed at that time.The church is located next to the British Embassy in Athens.It is an old Byzantine-style church.It had belonged to the Merciful Society of Athens-Nursing Home-Workhouse.Instrumental in the transfer to the Ecumenical Patriarchate were Mayor of Athens Konstantinos Bakoyannis and Archbishop Ieronymos II.The newly transferred temple is now a metochion church,or ecclesiastical embassy,on the territory of another autocephalous church,the Church of Greece.Athens already had metochia for the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa;the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and All Palestine;and St.Katherine's Monastery of Mt.Sinai,Egypt.There is already a Representative Office of the Ecuumenical Patriarchate in Athens,which is directed by His Eminence Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea.* On Saturday at noon,Patriarch Bartholomew will receive a new award from the Municipality of Athens,the Evkleis Athinaios,or Illustrious Athenian,which is an acknowledgement of a person's achievement in high ethical standards and Greek culture.This ceremony will take place at the Olympia Music Theatre Maria Callas.On Sunday morning,His All-Holiness will preside at the Divine Liturgy for the feast of Sts.Constantine and Helen at St.Nicholas in the Workhouse.Afterwards,he will depart for the Phanar,or Lantern,the Patriarchal compound in Istanbul,Turkey.* Patriarch Bartholomew's entourage includes Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon;Metropolitan Theodoritos;Metropolitan Kyrillos of Ieropytna and Sitia;Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios,director of the Private Patriarchal Office;Nikolaos-Georgios Papachristou,director of the Press and Communication Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;and Theomistocles Karonikolas,Patriarchal Officer.* A workhouse was basically a residence for the poor (poorhouse) during the Victorian era.In England it had an abusive prison atmosphere with child labor,of which the writer Charles Dickens was critical.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Visit Athens,Establish Metochion

From 19-21 May 2023,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will reportedly visit Athens,Greece.At that time,he will preside at services in the Church of Agios Nikolaou tou Pthohokomeiou,which has apparently been set aside by the Archdiocese of Athens and the Municipality of Athens for a metochion,or representative church,for the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Greece.It will give the Patriarchate a permanent spiritual outpost in the Greek capital.It was also noted that the visit will occur during the Greek elections.

J.S. Bach:Prelude and Fugue: No. 22 in B-Flat Minor, BWV 891 - Sviatoslav Richter (1915 - 1997)

The ending is quite majestic.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Begins Official Visit to Italy

On 2 May 2023,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,at the invitation of the Catholic authorities,began a six-day official visit to Florence,Salerno and Naples,Italy.In the course of his visit,he will meet with the Archbishop of Florence,His Excellency Cardinal Giuseppe Betore and representatives of local organizations.He will also be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Theological School of Central Italy.Furthermore,he will deliver a speech at an ecumenical prayer service at the Basilica di San Lorenzo.Then he will meet and bless Orthodox Christians residing in Florence,the capital of Tuscany,who belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of St.James the Brother of the Lord.* Next,Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to Salerno and meet with the Archbishop of Salerno,Campania and Acerno,His Excellency Andrea Bellardi and local government officials.At that time,he will receive from the Archbishop a portion of the relics of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist St.Matthew,whose relics are kept in the Cathedral of Campania,Italy.He will also address the clergy and students of Salerno's Theological School. Patriarch Bartholomew will then speak at an event organized by the University and Prefecture of Salerno,meeting with bishops of the Salerno Metropolitan District as well.His All-Holiness will conclude his journey with a visit to Naples,Italy on 7 May.There he will preside at the Divine Liturgy in the Greek Orthodox Church of Sts.Peter and Paul,blessing the Orthodox faithful of Naples.* Accompanying Patriarch Bartholomew will be Elder Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi;His Eminence Polykarpos,Archbishop of Italy and Exarch of Southern Europe;Patriarchal Deacon Varnavas;and Secretary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Mr.Nikolaos Papaioannou.