This year, the Name Day of His Beatitude Theodoros Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa was celebrated with due splendor and in a festive atmosphere, in the Great City of Alexandria. On the morning of 17th February in memory of Saint Theodore the Great Martyr of Tyre, the bells of the beautiful Community Cathedral of the Annunciation rang out joyfully.
His Beatitude officiated at Orthros and served the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy together with Their Eminences Metropolitan Ignatios of Dimitriada, Metropolitan Makarios of Sidirokastro (Church of Greece), Metropolitan Kyrillos of Krene (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Metropolitan Nicholas of Hermopolis, Metropolitan George of Guinea, Metropolitan Nicodemus of Memphis, Metropolitan Narcissus of Pelusium, Metropolitan Meletios of Carthage, Metropolitan Daniel of Aksum, His Grace Nicodemus Bishop of Nitria, His Grace Germanos Bishop of Tamiathus and His Grace Themistocles Bishop of Nikopolis.
Also present were the Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Mr. Athanasios Kotsionis with his wife, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Hellenic Community Messrs. Ioannis SIokas and Andreas Vafiades and members of the Community, the Deputy Mayor of Sintiki Serres Mr. Panagiotis Savvides, the Chairlady of the Naval Club Mrs. Lilika Thlivitou, the Chairlady of the Lyceum of Greek Ladies Mrs. Aliki Antoniou, societies and associations, as well as many faithful Christians from Greece, Cairo and Alexandria.
The day was doubly joyful, as during the Divine and Holy Liturgy, the Helsman of the Alexandrian Church ordained as Bishop of Nilopolis, Nikodimos Totkas, who served from the position of Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria from 2019.
The elected Bishop of Nilopolis, just before His Beatitude laid hands on his head, through his moving ordination speech thanked all those who benefited him throughout his priestly journey. With a special feeling of gratitude, however, he referred to His Beatitude Theodoros the Patriarch of Alexandria,, as in his person he found the loving father, the wise guide, the man with the open embrace. Specifically, he mentioned: "From the bottom of my heart, Your Beatitude, I feel the urgent need to express my gratitude to Your Venerable Person, as from the first moment you called me to serve in our Patriarchate, firstly in South Africa and then in Alexandria, you stood by me as a real father. Beside you I was taught lesson of highest education, theoretical and practical Theology. I have learned from Your enlightened person, not in words but in practice, that the minister of the Mysteries of God must always be joyful, always tireless, always praying, always envisioning, always optimistic".
Afterwards, the Primate of Alexandria, in his homily, praised the ethos of the new Bishop, his zeal, his diligence, his self-sacrifice, but mainly his love for the Second Throne Patriarchate and especially for the person of his Patriarch, who he always kept at ease.
For this reason he chose this day, on which he celebrates his venerable Name Day, to also be the day of the ordination of His Grace Bishop Nicodemus, a day of joy with his elevation to the third degree of the Priesthood.
Specifically, the Patriarch said: " Your Grace, my dear Nicodemus, I consider you to be a gift of God for me your Elder and for our suffering Church and with this reasoning I chose to ordain you on the day of St Theodore of Tyre, my Name Day, so that the lives of father and son could be even more connected and also to indicate to you more clearly the most important parameter of the ministry of a Bishop. I ordain you today, on the day of a great martyr of our faith, who with bravery and fortitude defended exactly that which he held as the most precious thing in his life: the wealth of living in Christ".
In his theological words, His Beatitude praised the office of the Bishop and in advising His Grace, he addressed him as follows: "The work of the Bishop is to constitute as theory and in practice, the manifestation of the Divine Liturgy in his person. Because the Divine Liturgy is precisely intertwined with the Bishop, as the head of the clergy and the people, and at the same time it is the undeniable revelation of Divine Providence to man and the whole of Creation. Therefore, never neglect this supreme duty which fills and must fill and nourish your soul, your works and your days, which means do not omit the Divine Liturgy and the Sacred Services, the highest form of worship of the one true God of our Fathers. Then and only then will the faithful recognize in Nicodemus of Nilopolis a true shepherd and teacher, and in your voice they will heed the saving invitation of Heaven. Only with this dimension will you be able to become a genuine Orthodox Bishop, in the form and place of Christ”.
At the end of the Sacred Services, His Beatitude Theodoros II Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa and His Grace Nicodemus Bishop of Nilopolis, received wishes in the Throne Room of the Patriarchal Mansion, after which a rich festive Table was hosted at the Union of the ancient Hellenic Community of Alexandria.
BIOGRAPHY
of His Grace Nicodemus
BISHOP OF NILOPOLIS
His Grace Nicodemus Bishop of Nilopolis (born Dimitrios) Totkas was born in Berlin in Germany in 1975, where he completed his schooling in the German schools. He holds a degree from the Department of Social Theology of the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens.
He was tonsured asa Monk and ordained Deacon in 1999, by the late Metropolitan Ioannis (Papalis) of Sidirokastro, and Priest in the year 2004 by His Eminence Macarius Metropolitan of Sidirokastro.
During the years 2004-2005 he served as Dean of the Holy Metropolitan Church of St George in Sidirokastro. He was in charge of Youth and collaborator of the camps of the Holy Metropolis.
In 2005 he was transferred to the Holy Metropolis of Dimitriada and Almyros and thereafter was seconded to the Holy Metropolis of Germany, where he served an Parish Priest of the Parishes of Berlin, Leipzig and Aachen.
In 2015, by the urging of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, he was seconded to the Holy Metropolis of Johannesburg and Pretoria, where he served as Parish Priest at the Hellenic Community of Klerksdorp, North West Province of South Africa.
In January 2019, invited by his Beatitude to the See of the Patriarchate he joined the Clergy of the Patriarchal Court. On 2nd february 2019, following a proposal by the Alexandrian Primate, he was promoted to the position of Director of the Private Patriarchal Office. On 21st April 2019 he was appointed Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod. On 12th January 2022, by venerable proposal of His Beatitude, he was elected by the Holy Synod as his Auxiliary Bishop, with the title of the once glorious Bishop of Nilopolis. He speaks German, English and the Afrikaans of South Africa.
