His heartfelt gratitude and paternal satisfaction for the touching response of the Roman communities to his call for the collection of humanitarian assistance for our brethren suffering the consequences of the deadly earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, as well as for strengthening “the sister of our Church of Antioch, under whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction the victims fall districts,” said Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his speech, today, on the Week of the Prodigal, after the Divine Liturgy, he headed the recently glorified Holy Church of Agios Charalambos of the community of Veveki.

As the Patriarch said, “Already the first echelon of representatives of our Communities, headed by the Metropolitans of the Forty Churches Imbros and Tenedos Kirillos and Andreas, was carrying food and essentials collected by your love and mercy. We made a similar appeal to the other Provinces of the all-inclusive Ecumenical Throne through the recent Circular we sent to them. In this way, we all become an embrace of love for our earthquake-tested brothers!”

His Holiness emphasized that the Bosporus region with its communities is also leading the way in these efforts and praised its hierarchical head, Metropolitan Athenagoras of Kydonia, both for his immediate response and for the overall work carried out in it, which is the fruit of against cooperation with church committees communities.

Earlier, the Patriarch in his speech referred to the message of the parable of the prodigal son.

Among other things, he pointed out: “As we also heard in the gospel passage earlier, this Sunday celebrates the salvation of the lost youth and his return from the bondage of sin to the freedom experienced by the children of God.

Only when the soul is given to God is it truly free. On the contrary, all other so-called freedoms in the hustle and bustle of everyday life are enslavement and slavery. Every passion that a person succumbs to is slavery, the deprivation of his spiritual freedom. Liberation from spiritual slavery, achieved through repentance, is the acquisition of true freedom, and therefore there is joy in heaven over a repentant sinner.

At the end of his speech, the Patriarch congratulated the new Church Committee of the Vevek community, blessing its members and wishing them success in their responsible tasks.

Earlier, His Holiness was greeted by Metropolitan Athenagoras of Kydon and Panteleimon Panagiotidis, chairman of the newly elected Spiritual Committee of the community.

During the Divine Liturgy, the Divine Word was preached by the Patriarchal Deacon Jerome Sotirelis.

Source: APE/MEB