Ecumenical Patriarch Visits Turkish Mayor,Nursing Home

On 7 August 2019,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited the new Mayor of Silivri,Turkey Mr.Volkan Yilmaz.Silivri is a holiday resort of about 76,000 permanent residents in Istanbul Province on the Sea of Marmara.Accompanying the Patriarch on the courtesy call were His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France;His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Silivri;and Mr.Dimitar Atanasov,advisor and legal counsel to the Great Church of Christ at Constantinople.The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere.*
Later in the day,Patriarch Bartholomew visited the Balikili Charities Nursing Home in Istanbul next to the Balikli Hospital.Both institutions continue to serve the small Greek population of Constantinople.In the Nursing Home's well-appointed Church of the Holy Unmercenaries,HAH served the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos and a Trisagion,or brief memorial service,for His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Tyroloi and Serantion,who died peacefully today at the Vlatadon Monastery in Thessaloniki,Greece at the age of 90.He had been the longtime igoumenos (abbot) of the Monastery and his successor,His Grace Bishop Nikiforos of Amorion,was at his bedside.Aionia imnimi,Memory eternal.*
Thessaloniki is one of the New Lands of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,but for practical reasons is administered by the Church of Greece.

Greek Orthodox in Turkey:Asia Minor Revival Continues

On 19 January 2019,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople celebrated the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy,Blessing of the Waters and Diving for the Cross on Old Calendar Epiphany at Triglia (Tirilye,Turkey) in Proussos (Bursa Province),Asia Minor.It was the first ever Patriarchal service in Triglia and the first Diving for the Cross held there since 1922.The liturgy was held in the restored Church of St.Basil,part of the community centre in Triglia.
Concelebrating the historic day were His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidoforos of Bursa and His Grace Bishop Adrianos of Alikarnassos,Crete.*
In addition to the hierarchs,several diplomats from Greece,Ukraine and Bulgaria attended the services,as well as archons,clerics and monks from the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople;representatives of the Municipality of Rufina (Attica,Greece);presidents and members of the Triglia heritage associations;plus Orthodox Christians from Istanbul and elsewhere in Bursa.
The Prefecture of Bursa granted a permit for the observances.Mayor Hayri Turkyilmaz of Mudanya and other local officials attended the Diving for the Cross.A local marching band processed to the Triglia town square for the Blessing of the Waters/Diving for the Cross at the Sea of Marmara.Young people from the greater Triglia area and Ukraine dove for the cross.*
Metropolitan Elpidoforos pointed out that:
In this action and in this spirit of the Patriarch,we owe,among other things,the climate of confidence that has been established so that it is possible to revive,step by step,the sacred Metropolises that had been deserted after the population exchanges of 1923.*
The Orthodox Church of Crete is part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In Memoriam Metropolitan Iakovos of Pringiponnisos (Princes Island):Hierarch of the Ecumenical Throne Dies in Istanbul

On 28 March 2018 at 3:00 am,His Eminence Metropolitan Iakovos of Pringiponnisos (Princes Island,Turkey) departed this life at an Istanbul Hospital after a long illness.He was about 71.His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew served the trisagion memorial service at the Church of St.George in the Patriarchal compound,the Phanar.*
Born in Constantinople,Metropolitan Iakovos (Sofroniadis) attended the Zografio Gymnasium (high school) and subsequently entered Halki Theological School.On 14 September 1969,he was ordained a hierodeacon with the name Iakovos.Upon graduating from Halki in 1970,he was appointed Patriarchal Deacon and Rapporteur (researcher) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.In 1974,he was promoted to Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate.Elected Metropolitan of Laodicea in 1984 and a Hierarch of the Ecumenical Throne in 1994,he was transferred to the Metropolis of Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara,near Istanbul.*
In the course of his career,His Eminence was the author of many articles,studies and speeches in the journals of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.Basically,he was a scholar in residence and was honoured by several Churches,including those of Jeruslaem;Russia;Greece;Romania;and Georgia;as well as many Metropolises and Institutions.In 2011,he was elected Associate Member of the historic Literary Association of Parnassos.He was also conferred with an Honourary Doctorate by the Democritus University of Thrace.