Sunday morning was the climax of the conference, when we celebrated the Divine Liturgy together in the Metropolis's cathedral of the Ascension.
In the photo above, you can see Metropolitan Ignatios and Bishop Maxim in the altar during Orthros, as Metropolitan John presides from the throne.
The Liturgy was celebrated by four bishops. As Metropolitan got vested in front of the altar, the other three vested behind: Bishop Maxim, Metropolitan Ignatios, and Metropolitan Seraphim of Johannesburg and Pretoria (Patriarchate of Alexandria; click here for info, see the 7th entry down).
Here we are at the beginning of the Liturgy. There were also 14 priests and 5 deacons.
The light struck Metropolitan John in a unique way during the Liturgy.
Afterwards, we had a wonderful breakfast at the church.
A view of the inside of the cathedral, from the back.
A view of the front of the cathedral.
After Liturgy, we had a very lively final session at the conference center.
Bishop Maxim headed on to Athens, and I headed back to Thessaloniki with a companion who lives in nearby Hortiati.
On the way, we found that the main highway had been blocked by angry fans of the Thessaloniki soccer team Iraklis. Having officially reached a new point of insanity here, these people were blocking the nation's main highway because they were angry that politicians in Athens had discriminated against Thessaloniki teams when it came to some matter of taxes on the clubs. Police officers were thus stationed at every turn of the extensive detour we had to make (making the trip 4.5 hours instead of 2.5), but apparently none of them were authorized to actually remove the protesters from the highway. Oh well...
For more photos from my stay in Volos, click here.
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