Patriarch of Alexandria: It is a great blessing for Cairo and Alexandria that Saint Nektarios live in our country

Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Cairo, where Saint Nektarios served, near the present bazaar “Khan el-Khalili”.

One of the most historic sites is the house where Saint Nektarios lived when he was serving the Alexandrian Church as Patriarchal Vicar of Cairo.

“It is a great blessing for Cairo and Alexandria that Saint Nektarios live in our country. And despite the bitterness, he came there twice. We know the saint in sadness and joy. He was a great theologian,” stressed Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria expressing his “great gratitude for having saved the old Divine Liturgy of Saint Mark the Apostle, recorded by Saint Meletios Pigas and performed by Patriarch Kirillos of Alexandria in the Holy Monastery of Saint Georgios in Old Cairo.”

“We, the clergy of Africa, are children of Saint Nektarios, just like every Hierarch of the Alexandrian Throne, every clergyman of Africa, we are children of Saint Nektarios,” noted the Patriarch of Alexandria.

According to the tradition, Saint Nectarios should be on the patriarchal throne on that day. So, Patriarch Theodore deposited the icon of Saint Nektarios on the throne.

Metropolitan Makarios of Nairobi, the Patriarchal Vicar of Cairo, Metropolitan Nikodimos of Memphis, the Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Athens, Georgios, as well as the Counsellor of the Greek Embassy in Greece, Elina Kyriakopoulou, and the Greek Consul General in Cairo, Giorgos Daskalopoulos, attended the liturgy.

Source: Orthodox Times