This week, we said farewell to our beloved father and bishop, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Heliopolis and Theira, who reposed in the Lord in Athens in the early hours of Wednesday 13 April 2022.

The service of the departure of the soul was held at St Andrew’s late Tuesday evening, shortly before his repose, and a Trisagion was held immediately after. A candlelit memorial was held on Wednesday evening, following the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Holy Gifts.

The funeral service was held on Friday 15 April at the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Heliopolis, Athens, where His Eminence had spent the last two years of his life “in preparation for that great journey”. His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch was represented by His Eminence Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, who presided over the service. With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, the funeral was attended by Archimandrite Chrysostomos Michaelides, Protopresbyter Nikolaos Kokkinos, Oeconomos Kristian Akselberg, and Subdeacon Antonis Ioannou, who were all ordained at St Andrew’s Cathedral by the late Metropolitan. The community of St Andrew was represented by Mr Emmanuel Stavrianakis, who succeeds the late Metropolitan as Chairman of the Cathedral Trust, and who delivered a moving eulogy at the end of the service. Several other members of the community also made the journey to Greece to be present at the funeral.

The following day, on the Saturday of Lazarus, the late Metropolitan’s body was taken to his beloved birthplace, the village of Damarionas on the island of Naxos, for burial. On the same morning, a memorial service was held at St Andrew’s after the Divine Liturgy.

The late Metropolitan’s last will and testament concludes with the words: “I leave the whole flock of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Andrew the Apostle my good blessings and, from the depth of my heart, sincere love in Christ”.

Αἰωνία αὐτοῦ ἡ μνήμη!