MEMORIAL PRAYERS BY HIS BEATITUDE THE PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA FOR THE LATE BLESSED METROPOLITAN IOANNIS OF PERGAMUM

On Sunday, February 5, 2023,His Beatitude Theodors II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa attended the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Savvas the Sanctified of Alexandria, after which he served a memorial prayers for the repose of the soul of the blessed Elder Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum.

During his address to the faithful, including a group of pilgrims from Romania, the venerable Primate of the Second Throne of the Patriarchate referred to the personality of the late Metropolitan, whom he described as one of the most prominent theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries, dignified, composed and modest Hierarch, who adorned the brilliant chorus of the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne and of Orthodoxy under heaven, distinguished for his pure theological thinking and training, who with his valuable academic and productive writings, combined the teaching of the Fathers with modern theological thoughts and trends.

Furthermore, His Beatitude made a special mention of the long-standing friendship of the late Elder of Pergamum with two of his personal benefactors, the Metropolitan Nektarios of Leros and Kalymnos and his Predecessor and spiritual Father Parthenios III, who characterized the blessed Metropolitan John and the late Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch as two leading theologians of great spiritual scope.

Finally, he gratefully underlined the valuable contribution of the late Hierarch and Academic to the canonization procedures of Saint Cyril of Loukaris, Patriarch of Alexandria, while he expressed his condolences to the Church of the First Throne of Constantinople and His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.