Ecclesiastical New Year at the Phanar

His All-Holiness, together with members of the Holy and Sacred Synod and Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne, presided over the concelebration of the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George on the occasion of the proclamation of the New Ecclesiastical Year, which includes the day of prayers for the protection of the natural environment and the Synaxis of the icon of Panaghia Pammakaristos.

After the Gospel Reading, Archimandrite Bartholomew Samaras, Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, read the Patriarchal encyclical of His All-Holiness for the preservation of the natural creation. Moreover, His All-Holiness conducted an Aghiasmos (blessing of the waters) to mark the first of the month.

Among those in attendance were Metropolitans Elder Constantine of Nicaea, Elder Athanasios of Chalcedon, Elder Apostolos of Derkoi, Iakovos of Chicago, Evangelos of Perghe, Germanos of Theodoroupolis, Germanos of Tranoupolis, Amvrosios of Karpathos and Kasos, Kyrillos of Imvros and Tenedos, Iakovos of the Princes’ Islands, Joseph of Proikonnesos, Meliton of Philadelphia, Demetrios of Sebasteia, Irenaios of Myriophyton and Peristasis, Chrysostomos of Myra, Gennadios of Sassima, Theoleptos of Ikonion, Evangelos of New Jersey, Kyrillos of Rhodes, Damaskinos of Kydonia and Apokoronos, John of Langadas, Liti and Rentina, Stephanos of Kallioupolis and Madytos, Elpidophoros of Bursa, Constantine of Singapore, Arsenios of Austria, Athenagoras of Kydonies, Bishop Demetrios of Therma (in Thessaloniki), Archimandrite Nikephoros Psychloudis, Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Vlatadon in Thessaloniki, Ambassador Alexander Laskaris, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, together with Patrick Hanish, from the local US Consulate General, Professor John Gregoriades of the Bilkent University in Ankara, Mr. Jaime Oriol Lopez and his wife Ms. Leyla Başakıncı, and Mr. Dennis Botonin, a journalist from Athens.

Source: patriarchate.org