The Patronal feast of the Alexandrian Church took place with particular splendour on 10th and 11th may 2008, on the Feast of the Saint Apostle and Evangelist Mark, its enlightener, first Bishop and trustee.
On the eve of the feast, 10th May 2008, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, together with Their Eminences the Elder Metropolitan Paul of Memphis, Elder Petros of Aksum, Kallinikos of Pilousion, George of Zimbabwe, Nicholas of Ermopolis, Dimitrios of Irinopolis, and Bishops Gabriel of Mareotis, Spyridon of Kanopos, Nikodimos of Nitria and Gennadios of Nilopolis, officiated during Great vespers at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Alexandria, during which he awarded the title of Archon Author to Professor Panayiotis Tzoumerkas, for his significant writings on the general historic journey of the ancient Patriarchate, as well as for his excellent service to the Patriarchal Library of Alexandria.
The next day, 11th May 2008, His Beatitude conducted a Patriarchal Divine Liturgy, at the above-named Cathedral together with all hierarchs mentioned as well as Archbishop Alexios of Orechovo-Zwevski, a hierarch of the Russian Church who was leading a delegation of pilgrims and a large choir from the Novospasky Monastery in Russia which sang the hymns during the Liturgy.
Prior to the end of the Liturgy, His Beatitude awarded Patriarchal Offices to five distinguished Greek erudite professionals, Mr. Defkalion Rediadis, Dr Theodoros Pittaras, Mr. Lazaros Kageorgis, Professor Agamemnon Tselikas and Mr. Konstantinos Xenopoulos.
A celebratory reception was held in the Hall of the Throne in the Patriarchal Mansion, where the Patriarch, addressing especially the new Office Bearers, defined them as “worthy continuers of tradition, valuable colleagues, and loving cyreneans, who give time, labour and costs without concern, to support all programmes of the Orthodox Church, including the fight against AIDS, education of the children of Africa, and evangelism to 54 countries on this continent”. He expressed fervent thanks to all the Office Bearers of the Patriarchal Brotherhood “St Mark”, the ancient Order of the Parabalani and the Order of St Constantine.
On their behalf, the Office Bearers of the Patriarchate, through the Chairman of the Brotherhood of Office Bearers, Professor Theodoros Panagopoulos, expressed their unfailing support of the multifaceted work of the Second Throne Church, and gave honour to the Great Archon of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, Mr Spyridon Kamalakis.
Addressing Archbishop Alexios from Russia who had brought Paschal greetings from patriarch Alexios of Moscow and All Russia, His Beatitude mentioned the fraternal relations between the two Churches, and presented the new publication of the ancient Patriarchate, which records all the moments of his conciliatory visit to Russia and the Ukraine from 6th – 16th October 2007.
At noon, the Chairman and the members of the Brotherhood of Office Bearers of the Throne hosted a lunch in honour of His Beatitude at the Hellenic Naval Club of Alexandria.
The celebratory and Liturgical events for the Patronal Feast of the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, which ended on the evening of the same day with a musical event in the gardens of the Patriarchal palace, were attended by His Excellency the Ambassador for Greece in Egypt Mr. Alexios Ioannis Zeppos, the Member of Parliament and former Minister Mr. George Kalatzis, the Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Mr. George Diakofotakis, the President of SAE Mr. Stephanos Tamvakis, the Chairman and Members of the Hellenic Community of Alexandria, representative of Hellenic Societies, Institutes and Organizations, the greek community as a whole and many visitors and pilgrims, from Greece, Cyprus and other countires.
