Well, in my first week as a deacon, I got to serve with Bishop Atanasije (Jevtic). In the second week, I served with Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware)—in short, two of the most influential living theologians. What’s up for next week? ( :
As I’ve mentioned before, our beloved neighbors, the Lillies, moved here from England about 35 years ago. The priest who brought them into Orthodoxy at Oxford was (then) Archimandrite Kallistos (Ware). They’ve been friends ever since.
On Saturday, His Eminence came to visit Greece again, and because we have a car (thanks to you all!), I had the opportunity to offer him a service and pick him up at the airport. He then wanted to stop at a small exhibit in Thessaloniki featuring artists who have painted the Holy Mountain. The exhibit was deserted on Saturday afternoon, but there were some very nice pieces, including some by Kontoglou and Pentzikis.
Afterwards, we came back to Panorama. He stayed at a friend’s place here in Panorama, just about a block from our apartment. He had dinner with the Lillies, and then Pelagia and I joined them for coffee and desert. It was a delightful time—he was full of humorous stories about his early days as an Orthodox convert in Greece and the island of Patmos.
On Sunday morning, I drove His Eminence downtown to St Haralambos, which is a dependency (metohi) of the Holy Monastery of Simonas Petras on the Holy Mountain. This is a very popular church, especially among the international community. I was privileged to serve at the Liturgy there with him (see photo). I even did one litany in English.
After the Liturgy, he headed off to visit the women’s monastery of Ormylia and, after that, to Simonas Petras and the Holy Mountain.
On another note, here are some more photos from the ordination in Belgrade, taken by our friend Brendan who went with us. Most of the photos are from the ordination. A few are from the celebration that followed, and the last couple are from visiting with our friends around Belgrade the next day.
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