On 17th September 2011 His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, concelebrated during the Divine Liturgy which was conducted in a pious atmosphere in the holy chapel of St Nektarios and the Holy Patriarchs of Alexandria of the Holy Monastery of St Svvas, on the memorial of St Ioakeim Panis, Patriarch of |Alexander.
During the Eucharistic gathering the holy relic of St Ioakeim was placed for veneration as it is preserved at the holy Monastery as a blessing for the faithful of the Great City. His Beatitude spoke of the wondrous life and works of the holy Primate.
St Ioakeim Panis, first Patriarch of ALexandria following the Turkish occupation of Egypt (1517AD) when Sultan Selim conquered the Mamelukes and took from them possession of Egypt and the Caliphate, was born in Atehns in 1448 and lived as a monk at the holy Monastery of Sinai and at the Lavra of St Savvas the Sanctified in Palestine. He was elevated to the ancient and Apostolic Throne of St Mark in August of 1487.
He gave his efforts to the reorganization of the Patriarchate with acumen and a practical spirit. He participated in the Synod of Jerusalem during which the so-called Sinaitic issue was discussed and resolved. He requested and received financial support for his troubled Patriarchal Throne from Tsar Basil IV. He strongly resisted the knocks on the Patriarchate of especially the Venetian Archbishop Patros Landos of Crete, to agree to the unity of the Churches and to participate in 1562 in the |Roman Catholic Synod of Trident. The stand he took strengthened even more the opinion of the Christian faithful of the Church regarding his saintliness and his persistence with all things handed down to him. There are preserved narrations from chronicles recorded at the time of miracles and signs done by the holy Patriarch through his faith. He fell asleep in the Lord at a very old age in 1567 in the 117th year of his earthly life having served as Patriarch for 80 years.
The holy Service for St Ioakeim Panis was composed by His eminence Kyrillos Metropolitan of Rhodes, a hymnographer, and was published in 2009 under the care of His Beatitude Theodoros II Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa as a memorial to his predecessor, the late Patriarch Petros VII, during whose Patriarchal tenure the name of St Ioakeim Panis was recorded in the list of the saints of the Church by official Patriarchal and Synodal Act of Sanctification on 17 September 2002.
