Tag: Christianity

As dioceses and shrines are questioning how best to limit the use of artwork created by Slovenian Father Marko Rupnik, who is accused of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse over three decades, the art center he founded continued to promote his latest mosaics at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.

In a post on its Instagram page shared April 4, the Centro Aletti said that over the coming days, it would feature “100+ images of the South facade and colonnade” of the Marian shrine on its website.

Father Rupnik, 70, was briefly excommunicated by the church in 2020 for absolving an Italian novice with whom he had sex. The excommunication was lifted after he repented.

The Jesuits disclosed in December 2022 that it had suspended the Slovenian artist after allegations of abuse had surfaced. In June 2023, Father Rupnik was expelled from the Jesuits for refusing to obey restrictions imposed upon him related to the sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of some two dozen women and at least one man over the course of 30 years.

On the sidelines of a book presentation March 21, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told journalists that preparations were underway for a canonical trial against Father Rupnik.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the allegations against the priest were deemed credible as early as May 2019, the Centro Aletti continued to not only promote Father Rupnik’s artwork, but also his spiritual writings. In a recent post published April 7, the art center promoted a new e-book written by the priest titled, “In the Fire of the Burning Bush: An Initiation to the Spiritual Life.”

The alleged victims of Father Rupnik have called for the removal of the priest’s artwork, saying it is a painful reminder of the abuse they suffered. One of his victims, Sister Samuelle, said she was abused while they were installing a mosaic.

A number of shrines that featured his work have taken steps to either cover or limit the public display and use of Father Rupnik’s artwork since the abuse revelations were made public. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France and the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. opted to cover the mosaics out of respect for his victims. The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, which features a mosaic made by Father Rupnik behind the main altar of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, said that while it is not considering removing his artwork, it has “suspended the use of the image, the entirety of the work, and its details in our promotional materials.”

But the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, which features the Slovenian priest’s largest mosaic to date, measuring 43,000 square feet, went ahead with its installation despite calls for the shrine to reconsider given the serious allegations.

Announcing the decision to cover Father Rupnik’s mosaic at the Lourdes shrine, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes said covering the controversial artwork aimed to make the shrine a more welcoming place, particularly for victims of abuse.

“I felt, along with my colleagues, that a new symbolic step had to be taken to facilitate entry into the basilica for all those who are currently unable to cross the threshold. As a result, all the doors to the Basilica of (Our Lady of) the Rosary have been modified,” Bishop Micas said in an interview released by the sanctuary March 31.

Victims and survivors, especially Father Rupnik’s alleged victims, hailed the decision as a concrete act of support for those who have suffered greatly from clerical sexual abuse.

Antonia Sobocki, Catholic director of the British-based LOUDFence organization, a survivor-led group supporting survivors and promoting safeguarding, announced that the group has joined with the Diocese of Plymouth to launch a Jubilee Year campaign titled, “Pilgrims of Healing and Hope.”

In her announcement posted on X April 7, Sobocki expressed gratitude to Bishop Micas and the Lourdes commission in prioritizing abuse survivors by covering Father Rupnik’s mosaics.

“This means those who found passing through the doors of Lourdes, past Marko Rupnik’s mosaics, was just too traumatic, may now pass unhindered,” she wrote.

She asked all pilgrims visiting Lourdes to “take a photo of themselves in front of the covered doors of the Rosary Chapel and then post the images online with the hashtags #PilgrimsOfHopeAndHealing and #IWillNotForsakeYou.”

In a statement sent to OSV News April 7, Sobocki said the decision by Bishop Micas to cover Father Rupnik’s mosaics “was news I longed for on behalf of victims/survivors.”

Upon receiving several messages on her phone about the decision, Sobocki told OSV News that it took “a few moments for the enormity of what the message was saying to finally sink in.”

“Then I started to cry and I couldn’t stop,” she said. “It’s as if all the stories of harm which I carried around with me finally burst through a floodgate. I thought of all the people who had confided their experiences of harm and loss through abuse to me. It felt as if Bishop Jean-Marc Micas and the commission in Lourdes had personally listened to all of them, seen them and prioritized them.”

Sobocki said she received messages from many survivors who shared the “same sense of elation” for what she described as “an act of deliberate care for survivors” in spite of the fact that Bishop Micas and the Lourdes Commission’s decision to cover the artwork was “met with significant resistance.”

“I know this act of mercy was given freely, and although it is absolutely the right thing to do, it requires them to side with the powerless and marginalized against powerful people with a lot of influence and resources,” she said.

Regarding the Holy Year campaign with the Diocese of Plymouth, Sobocki told OSV News it was designed to “let survivors and those who advocate for them in Lourdes know they are not alone.”

“It has become policy in many dioceses to not have diocesan pilgrimage photos in front of the main doors of the Rosary Chapel in order to avoid being photographed with Rupnik’s mosaic but now the mosaics are covered we thought it would be possible to do the reverse to affirm Bishop Jean-Marc’s act of mercy,” she said.

The campaign, she added, enables pilgrims to show support for Father Rupnik’s victims, “as well as the millions of other survivors around the world. It is a wonderful act of affirmation and care for the wounded.”

“From the ashes of grief and despair, I believe it is possible to be resurrected to hope and healing,” Sobocki said.

While pilgrimages to the Holy Land have been few and far between in the past 18 months, hundreds of Franciscan friars celebrate Mass at the sites associated with the life of Jesus each day and continue to support the local Christian populations.

The worldwide Good Friday collection for the Holy Land “is the principal source of financing” for the ministry of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, the friars said in a statement April 7.

Since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel began its retaliation, particularly in Gaza, there are few visitors and pilgrims, they said. But “the shrines have remained open,” and the friars continue to take care of and minister in the holy places, including the Basilica of the Visitation in Nazareth, the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The Custody of the Holy Land includes 270 Franciscan priests and brothers from more than 30 countries. They safeguard and offer the sacraments in 55 shrines associated with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as in 22 other parishes.

The custody also operates six hostels for pilgrims and five homes for the aged and for orphans. It runs 15 schools with 12,000 students. They employ some 1,100 local Christians and have about 630 apartments for low-income families.

The Franciscan friars belonging to the custody also minister in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus.

In Syria, the press release said, the friars distribute food and medicines to the neediest victims of the long-running civil conflict.

The Good Friday collection is scheduled for April 18 in parishes around the world.

Kiev, April 8, 2025

Photo: spzh.eu     

Voices of protest are rising from across the Orthodox Christian world as religious leaders and monastic communities condemn the Ukrainian government’s recent decision to conduct scientific examinations on the sacred relics of saints in the Kiev Caves Lavra.

The controversial examinations, conducted by a commission that included anatomists, biologists, and even a veterinarian but no Church representatives, have sparked accusations of blasphemy and comparisons to Soviet-era persecution of the Church. As the Ukrainian authorities claim to be evaluating the “historical and scientific value” of these venerated relics, Orthodox leaders, in addition to those within the Ukrainian Church itself (see The Saints Are Being Mocked Along With Millions of BelieversGod is not mocked. The saints are above all the blasphemies committed against their relics.

“>here and UOC hierarchs: Saints of the Kiev Caves will defend themselves, this will end poorly for the blasphemersOn Friday, a state commission was sent to the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra to “inspect” the incorrupt relics that lie in the Near and Far Caves. The group cut off the locks to the Caves and installed their own in order to block the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church from accessing the Caves.”>here), are calling for immediate intervention to protect what they consider vessels of Divine Grace and witnesses to the resurrection.

Bulgarian Church

On April 4, His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech headed a priestly conference of the Troyan Deanery. Various issues were discussed and the clergy adopted a letter in support of the persecuted Ukrainian Church, reports the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Regarding the relics of the Kiev Caves, the clergy, led by Met. Gabriel, who is a Constantinople’s decision is against the canons—Bulgarian Met. Gabriel of LovechThe decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, announced on Thursday, October 11, does not correspond to the canons of the Church, and the problems arising from it must be discussed at a pan-Orthodox Council, His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church said in an interview with TASS on Friday.

“>staunch defender of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine, includes a prayer to God and the saints of the Caves not to allow the desecration of their relics and for their relics to be returned to the canonical Church under the omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

The clergy also expressed sympathy for the brutal attack on and seizure of the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy that took place Violent seizure of Orthodox cathedral in Cherkasy leaves dozens injured (+VIDEO)The anti-Orthodox schismatics and nationalists of the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (OCU), founded by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, finally managed to violently seize the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy after several attempts.

“>in October and called for the perpetrators to be punished and for the church to be returned to the UOC diocese.

Mt. Athos

Monks from Athonite cells condemned the examinations being undertaken by various scientists, likening it to the persecutions of the Soviet era.

“Away with this blasphemy” the monks exclaim. They explain the veneration of relics in the Orthodox Church, which the state’s commission seems to know nothing about:

We remind that the Orthodox Church considers the holy relics vessels of Divine grace, and according to Orthodox Patristic theology, we give them reverent veneration. St. Gregory Palamas (Archbishop of Thessaloniki) clarifies that just as the divinity of Christ didn’t abandon His human body during His three-day burial and Resurrection, so the grace of the Holy Spirit doesn’t abandon the bodies of the saints after their biological death, which is why as Orthodox we reverently kiss the holy relics to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit that dwells in them. The existence of the holy relics confirms the hope of Resurrection and eternal life, the truth of the Gospel, and the experiential experience of deification.

Any faithful Orthodox Christian would call the examinations “a pure blasphemy by the Ukrainian authorities not only against the Orthodox brothers of the canonical Orthodox Church,” the monks are sure.

The eagerly await the judgment of the Local Churches, and first of all of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. “It’s no longer possible to pretend that nothing tragic is happening in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its holy places.”

The monks also call on the Sacred Community—the governing body of Mt. Athos—to respond to what is happening with the Kiev Caves relics.

The Athonite fathers close with a prayer to the Kiev Caves saints and a question: “How, and especially why, determine the scientific value of the holy relics? Perhaps these actions are being taken to see how Orthodox Christians around the world will react to an additional conscious blasphemy?”

Church of Greece

From within the Church of Greece, Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos, who has continually stood up Greek priest under fire for supporting Orthodoxy in UkraineA priest of the Orthodox Church of Greece who is known as an outspoken critic of ecumenism and supporter of Orthodoxy in Ukraine is being threatened with defrocking by his ruling hierarch.

“>in defense of the persecuted UOC, sent a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew and other primates and hierarchs, calling on them to speak out against what is happening with the Kiev Caves relics.

“With feelings of holy anger and indignation, Orthodox Christians throughout the world are witnessing the desecration of the holy relics, dozens of incorrupt holy relics, of the Kiev Lavra by the Zelensky regime,” he begins.

The commission members are “desecrating the saints” with their research, he warns.

Pat. Bartholomew and the other primates who have recognized the schismatic OCU should warn Zelensky about what happens when you fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31), he writes.

“We make a most fervent appeal to your Episcopacy and we ask and beseech you: Raise a voice of denunciation and protest so that the desecration of the saints of our Orthodox Church may stop,” he pleads, lamenting their silence about the abuse of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“This silence of pan-Orthodoxy has emboldened the barbarians of Kiev, and they’re now proceeding to rape and abuse even the triumphant Church of the firstborn, and the saints which are written in Heaven (Heb. 12:23).

Silence in this matter equals consent, the Greek priest warns.

ROCOR

In an interview with the American branch of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem accused Ukrainian authorities of “trying to put a scientific face on the defacing of Orthodox holy things and the Orthodox people.”

“You have myrrh-gushing skulls there—how do you [scientifically] explain that?” Fr. Roman asked rhetorically. What the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture is doing today is no different than the “research programs” of the Soviet regime of the 20th century, which seized and destroyed relics under the guise of “scientific inquiry,” he added.

“This is the devil, bringing out his full armies against the Church, the same as they did in the 20th century,” he said, “and we as Orthodox Christians seem to have learned very little from our past, and we just continue to follow the ways of this world, forgetting the one thing needful.”

Patriarchate of Jerusalem

And on Saturday, April 5, following the Liturgy for the Salutations of the Mother of God, the abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod, who is still being held under house arrest away from his monastery, had a video chat with the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos conveyed his blessing and expressed support for Met. Pavel and the Lavra brotherhood.

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Moscow, April 8, 2025

Moscow Tatar Orthodox Christian Community     

On the night of April 2, an Orthodox Tatar and altar server was brutally murdered in a church in Moscow.

Some are already calling Ilyas Safovich Safiullin a martyr, especially considering that he converted to Orthodoxy from Islam eight years ago.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill expressed his condolences, reports ruskline.ru, saying that Ilyas “proved himself to be a good soldier of Christ, who sought to fulfill the Gospel preaching of active love for neighbors and to help people in need, those who are grieving, and those overwhelmed by the passion of alcohol consumption.”

The suspect, a 36-year-old Tatar citizen of Uzbekistan is a Muslim, though married to an Orthodox woman. According to the information of mk.ru, he treated his family with love and always helped those in need, but he also had a mental illness. He forgot to take his pills and started having panic attacks, so he and his wife went to his mosque in Moscow on Tuesday, April 1, but were turned away by the guards.

Then the man told his wife that he had received a message from above and suddenly ran off.

Mk.ru continues:

About the subsequent events, [the suspect] couldn’t properly tell: He claims that he doesn’t remember anything. Somehow he wandered onto the grounds of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior on Novoslobodskaya Street, where he attacked a 56-year-old laborer (who, by the way, was also Tatar by nationality) and literally slashed the unfortunate man with a knife. The criminal was detained immediately after this. As reported by the press service of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Moscow, a number of forensic examinations have been ordered for the case.

A source for ruskline.ru also said:

Before killing Ilyas, the murderer took off his shoes at the entrance to the church, tied our Ilyas’ hands, slit his throat, also inflicted multiple stab wounds, and then ran around the church looking for a priest, most likely looking for Fr. Andrey Nadir Yakubov, who is also an Orthodox Nizhny Novgorod Tatar, like the murdered Ilyas. At the same time, the killer was running around with an icon that he had taken from the murdered man, and was shouting some religious and political slogans.

The Moscow Tatar Orthodox Christian Community gives the killer’s name as Timur Kasymovich Khaitov.

A member of the Tatar community has written about Ilyas:

A small man in appearance, he accommodated thousands and thousands of other people in his heart, serving them in his parish—he was a missionary, an activist of the Union of Orthodox Tatars, helped the sick in hospitals, led rehabilitation groups for alcoholics and drug addicts, bringing many to Christ through these activities, performed in parish plays and, of course, carried out his main service—serving in the altar as an altar server.

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Moscow, April 8, 2025

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the great Holy Hierarch and Confessor Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, a beloved saint for the churches in both America and Russia.

That his feast not be eclipsed by the great feast of the Annunciation, it was moved to the day prior, April 6. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the main celebration was held at Moscow’s Donskoy Monastery, where he endured imprisonment and where his precious relics lie. The Liturgy was led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, report Patrarchia.ru.

The Russian primate was concelebrated by 11 hierarchs and a host of clergy from throughout the Russian Church. They were joined by the representatives of the Churches of Serbia and the Czech Lands and Slovakia and the Orthodox Church in America who serve in Moscow as well as the dean of the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Belgrade.

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

The service was also attended by various public officials. Special petitions were offered during the augmented and Pat. Kirill read the prayer for Holy Rus’.

Before Communion, Patriarchal Archdeacon Konstantin Bargan read the Patriarch’s address on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the repose of St. Tikhon (see below).

At the end of the Liturgy, His Holiness read a prayer at St. Tikhon’s reliquary at the front of the church.

“In a sense, our present Church is the spiritual legacy of Patriarch Tikhon, which has overcome schisms and divisions and, I hope, will also overcome the remnants of these phenomena that torment the spiritual life of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine,” Pat. Kirill said. “I hope that through the prayers of the holy Patriarch Tikhon, our Church will be strengthened, its unity, and God’s grace will extend over our people.”

Then the Patriarch led the solemn transfer of a reliquary with a particle of St. Tikhon’s relics to be carried to cities of Russia and Belarus for the blessing of the faithful, saying:

Today we begin an All-Russian procession, and I’m transferring to its participants a particle of the relics of the saint, so that as many Orthodox people as possible, to whom this procession will be directed, can venerate these holy remains. Through the prayers of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, may the Lord preserve the Orthodox faith in our people, piety, purity, and strength of spirit.

Photo: patriarchia.ru   

Representatives of the Serbian diaspora in Moscow then presented Pat. Kirill with a portrait of St. Tikhon, and icons of St. Tikhon were distributed to the faithful.

The service was broadcast live:

​

***

Patriarchal address on the 100th anniversary of the repose of St. Tikhon of Moscow:

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

The year 2025 is especially memorable for the Russian Orthodox Church, which prayerfully marks the 100th anniversary of the repose unto the Lord of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia—a primate who, by God’s lot, endured severe trials through revolutionary upheavals, civil war, and the beginning of cruel persecutions against the faith.

Ascending to the cathedra of the First Hierarchs of Moscow, St. Tikhon foresaw the immense weight of the cross placed upon him, as evidenced by his words: “How many tears will have to be swallowed and groans let out in the forthcoming Patriarchal ministry!” (Address of Metropolitan Tikhon upon receiving news of his election). All this indeed came to pass, and his primatial work truly became for him that prophetic scroll on which are written the terrible words: lamentations and mourning and woe (Ezek. 2:10).

The restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Church in the autumn of 1917 coincided with the rise to power of militant God-fighters who aimed to completely eradicate religious faith among the people and who raised unprecedented persecutions against the Church of Christ. While boldly denouncing the crimes of the Bolsheviks who carried out bloody reprisals, St. Tikhon also testified: “The Church does not bind itself forever to a specific form of government, for such has only relative historical significance. The Church carries another ministry—it is and should be the conscience of the state” (Address on the feast day of the Holy Martyr Patriarch Hermogenes, March 2, 1919).

With humility and meekness, combined with zeal for God’s work and spiritual fervor, His Holiness Tikhon carried out the ministry entrusted to him, imploring his flock not to depart from the path of the cross and to preserve faithfulness to the Orthodox Church.

Only the Lord knows the heavy thoughts and heartache that Patriarch Tikhon experienced, witnessing the collapse of old Russia and the destruction of Orthodox holy sites. Only the Lord knows the fervent prayers that the saint offered for the flock entrusted to him, while being in confinement at the Donskoy Monastery, effectively cut off from the actual governance of the Church. But, in all things approving [himself] as a minister of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses … in labours, in watchings … by the Holy Spirit, by sincere unfeigned (cf. 2 Cor. 6:4-6), the Holy Hierarch earned the Confessor’s crown and became an example of courage and spiritual strength.

With special feeling, the Orthodox people flock to the holy relics of St. Tikhon, which are being brought to cities and villages of Holy Russia. This touch of the holy relic helps us strengthen our faith and find hope in the power of St. Tikhon’s intercession before God for our fatherland and our people. We believe and hope that St. Tikhon will answer the petitions of the faithful children of the Russian Church, for which he had constant care during his earthly life, and, standing now before the throne of the Almighty, will not cease to intercede for us before God.

Let us therefore offer our special prayers to St. Tikhon, that faith may not diminish among our people, that the Lord, through the intercession of His glorious saint and “zealot of Apostolic traditions,” may bless our Church and country with “tranquility” and “God’s peace” (troparion to the saint), strengthen us in fulfilling the evangelical commandments and in courageously following Christ our Savior.

Through the intercession of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, may the Merciful Lord protect all of you, my dear ones!

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When the 6,000 pilgrims arrived at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels after a sun-drenched, seven-mile Saturday morning walk on April 5, they had to face one last challenge: fitting in their destination. 

“I’ve been saying lately we need a bigger cathedral,” Archbishop José H. Gomez joked during the Mass, where many had to sit on the floor. 

The problem was also the ultimate sign of success for the day’s Pilgrimage of Hope, which brought people through the streets of LA, starting at All Souls Church in Alhambra, stopping for breaks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Rose Hill and Our Lady Help of Christians in Lincoln Heights, then ending at the cathedral for a special Mass.

Since Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Holy Year, the pilgrimage was also an opportunity for pilgrims to receive a plenary indulgence by participating in the event and fulfilling other conditions.

When the first throngs of pilgrims approached the cathedral — sweating and red-faced, but beaming with happiness — there was applause and shouts of praise as they reverently touched the entrance doors on their way into Mass.

“You showed up today expecting Jesus to show up, and show up he did. We filled the streets with prayer and witness and God filled us with his grace,” Father Parker Sandoval, vice chancellor and senior director of ministerial services for the archdiocese, said during the Mass.

“The Church in Los Angeles is alive,” he said, which prompted spontaneous applause.

In his homily, Archbishop Gomez invited the pilgrims to “reflect on how Jesus is calling us to be his instruments, heroes of hope” whether at home, school, church, or in society. 

“Jesus is sending us into the world to share the hope that we have in him,” said the archbishop. 

The pilgrimage offered plenty of examples of what that hope looks like in person. 

That Saturday morning, pilgrims first began to fill All Souls Church as the sun started peeking over the horizon. At 8 a.m., a spirit of anticipation was in the air as Archbishop Gomez led the crowd onto Main Street, with some bystanders gawking and capturing the crowd and the moment on their cellphones.

Hope was found in the rosary beads that pilgrims clutched as they walked, in the songs blaring from speakers pulled along in wagons, and in the relics of saints and blesseds that were carried along the journey, including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, and soon-to-be-saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.

Cristina Mazza, a teacher who sings in the choir at St. Dominic Church in Eagle Rock, was walking, hoping for an answer to her desire for motherhood. 

“I’m certain of [God’s] presence in my life,” Mazza said. “I’ve seen how my desire has taken shapes that I haven’t thought would be possible, with my students, with my friends. I’ve seen how it’s possible to be a mother in a nontraditional way.”

She and her husband are in the process of becoming foster parents, but even with that clarity, Mazza still looks constantly for God’s guidance.

“Even though I do have a glimpse of answers, my heart has always asked for more and more light into this desire that I have,” she said.

Ana Tan has been a catechist for three years at St. Mary and Our Lady of the Desert churches in Palmdale, and she offered up her pilgrimage for her and her husband’s confirmation students, who she said are constantly looking for answers.

“I think at the core of it is they’re looking for purpose,” Tan said. “We told them there is one goal in life, it’s to get to heaven. One of the taglines we told them is it’s YOLO [You Only Live Once] for Christ. This life is only temporarily yours, but you may seek permission from God before you do anything.”

Cousins Nancy Franco and Maria Rendon walked together, both hoping for continued faith and strength to endure personal struggles that were happening in their lives. For Franco, she prayed for the health of her son, who was seriously injured in a football game, tearing several ligaments, dislocating his kneecap, and suffering life-threatening nerve damage.

“We were in a really bad situation — it was life and death,” Franco said. “So I grabbed God, and said, ‘I know he’s your son, but let me keep him for a little longer.’ And he has, and it’s been a tough journey, but through God and our faith and my family’s prayers, this has helped us to stay strong.

“There’s no treatment other than to pray for it to come back.”

Rendon was still feeling the loss of her deceased parents and equated the pilgrimage walk with her daily journey of grief, but also the path to heaven.

“When you’re feeling down, just get up and keep walking,” she said. “You walk the way God wants you to walk. Because I want to see my parents, and I want to be sure that I have a first-class ticket. I don’t want any stops. I want to go straight up. So that’s the goal.”

At both Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady Help of Christians rest stops, pilgrims had opportunities to take a break, use the restroom, and get some water.

At Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, participants streamed into the church parking lot where volunteers greeted them with music, high-fives, and applause, and directed them toward folding tables where they’d set out free coffee, water bottles, and granola bars to help give them sustenance. 

Volunteers spent hours setting up the various stations and dedicated more than a month to planning logistics, all as a way to be of service to others, said Deacon Juan Ayon. 

“We feel very blessed to be a part of this,” Ayon said. “To see all of these people arriving with such faith means a lot to us and to our church community.”

Florencia Salanic and her 12-year-old son, both of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Los Angeles, were among those who paused at Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

Salanic said the fact that her son was able to accompany her on the journey is a “miracle” in itself, because her son was hit by a car at age 3 and doctors initially said he might never walk again. 

Today, he’s able to walk and play just like any other child his age, she said. 

“I feel happy to be here,” she said. “I am giving thanks to God today for everything he gives me and for my family.

“God never abandons us.”

Back at the cathedral, as the pilgrims streamed out into the Plaza after a long and fruitful day, Teresa Puga and Salvador Vasquez were asked what they expected — what they hoped for — as they returned home.

“I just needed that reset to get my faith back on track,” Puga said. “I was hoping to leave some of the burdens that have been weighing me down, leave it all on the walk and feel fresh and revived.

“I’m hoping to remember this. I’m hoping that the community will remember this day and we’ll continue to pray for one another, for all of those that were here today, for everyone who walked.”

Theresa Cisneros contributed to this story.

Introduction

Photo: ​Vk.com Schema-Archimandrite Kyrik of Mt. Athos (Konstantin Nikiforovich Maximov in the world) was born to a poor family. His secular education was limited to elementary and middle school, but throughout his life, he enriched his theological knowledge and spiritual treasure. Having left for St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mt. Athos in his youth, he was first sent to the Athonite Metochion in Moscow, where he helped publish books of the ever-memorable Theophan the Recluse

“>St. Theophan the Recluse. Later, he was appointed abbot of the Athonite Metochion in Odessa, where he acquired a wide circle of spiritual children, from the mayor to merchants.

He later returned to Mt. Athos, where he actively fought the Name-Worshipping heresy, which taught that God is inherent in the very words of the name Jesus Christ. He was sent to report to the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg on this matter. After the revolution, Fr. Kyrik remained in his monastery, where he was the spiritual father for the brethren. In the 1930s, on the advice of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), he was summoned to Yugoslavia by Serbian Patriarch Barnabas.

Father Kyrik was an experienced practitioner of the prayer of the heart and edified his spiritual children primarily through his own example. With simple words accessible to all, he spoke to them about the great feat of heartfelt contrition, humility, and obedience; he reminded them that when beginning to pray, we must remember that God looks upon the one praying—not at his outward apparel, but at the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3:4).

Without Confession. God Is HereRepentance destroys hell in the penitent’s soul and transfers him to Paradise.

“>confession, man will perish! Man won’t receive salvation from improper prayer! Our God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, created man solely out of His goodness, and not simply so that man, living on earth, would be saved, but mainly that man might praise, glorify, and thank his Creator, and at that same time, might take care for his salvation and confess God, that is, recognize Him as his Creator and Benefactor. The Lord says: Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father Which is in Heaven (Mt. 10:32). From forgetfulness of God comes pride.

Thus, having created man, God led him into the Paradise of delights, gave him a helpmate Eve so they might rejoice and be blessed as much as they could contain it, and grow and multiply and be perfected for Heaven, living on the paradisiacal earth.

But satan, the former first angel, who fell from Heaven, envied man: Through envy, says the holy apostle,¹ sin came into the world (Wis. 2:24). Satan envied men, who would take his former place in Heaven; for this, he entered into the serpent that was sitting on that tree, the fruit of which God forbade the first men to eat as food. And the serpent spoke to Eve (before the fall of Adam and Eve, they understood the tongue of all living creatures). Rejecting God’s commandment, he assured Eve that they would be like God (after eating), and thereby slandered God and deceived Eve; then she and Adam decided to be gods and tasted of the forbidden fruit, and thereby violated the commandment of God and fell from that height and beatitude that they had hitherto possessed. It was noon when they ate of the fruit and it was noon when the Lord God was crucified on the Cross for the sin of Adam and his descendants. The omniscient Lord, knowing the fall of Adam, asked him: Adam, where art thou? (Gen. 3:9), thereby calling him to Repentance is the Second VictoryWe constantly recall the words of the saints, that it is greater to see your sins than to see angels. Why is it greater?

“>repentance.

Adam, where art thou?—that is, having been at such a height of blessedness, where have you fallen to now?! And what have you lost!…

But Adam didn’t repent but offered a reason to be excused, and Eve didn’t repent either. Because they had free will and reason, having no need to violate God’s commandment, they could use these same properties of the soul to reveal their will, reveal whom they loved more—their Creator God, satan, or themselves (because by our freedom of choice we’re given power to do both). And Adam was deceived, desiring to be a god, as he was assured by satan, who went against God, Who benevolently commanded Adam (and his descendants) to rejoice and be blessed forever. And God is benevolently cunning, as the Creator of all creatures—he outwitted satan, subsequently granting Adam and his descendants an even greater future blessedness. And for this, the Lord bowed the heavens, descended to earth, clothed Himself in human flesh, and by it suffered and died on the Cross for the sin of Adam and his descendants, which we all are. The Pre-Eternal Word became “flesh,” receiving, apart from sin, the fullness of human nature into hypostatic unity with His Divinity; the Incarnate Word became a partaker in that universal sorrow that lay as a heavy burden on the criminal conscience of sinful mankind.

Everything, save sin, inherent in mankind has become the lot of the God-Man. When all the powers of darkness descended upon His soul, the insignificance of man appeared in all its amazing power during the sufferings upon the Cross of the Divine Redeemer, Who cried out to His Heavenly Father, on behalf of all mankind: Why hast Thou forsaken me (Matt. 27:46)! From this, let every Christian soul understand how grievous is the sin of transgressing the commandment of God and therefore, how important for us and how pleasing to God is repentance! Thus, only repentance opens the closed doors of Paradise. But because Adam didn’t repent when God called him to repentance with the words, Adam, where art thou? the Lord God interrupted the conversation with Adam about repentance and struck it up again with Adam’s descendants after His Baptism in the Jordan, calling everyone to repentance with the words: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! (Mt. 4:17). The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, or is granted only to those who repent to their God and Creator. Thus, if man is created according to the image and likeness of God, then it’s to Him alone that man should strive. The basis of this striving for God must be humility before God, unlimited devotion to Him as Creator and Almighty, and boundless love for Him as the infinite Good. Without these qualities, the pursuit of God is pride—the greatest sin—because in this case it represents a seizure of the Divine without God’s will, and a self-willed—and therefore—criminal likening of oneself to God, which is what Adam attempted to do. For this pride mankind suffered in the person of its forefather, because it was precisely in this pride that the sin of Adam’s crime consisted.

After the fall of the first men, man didn’t completely depart from God and didn’t cease to strive for Him, because this desire for the Infinite Being is embedded in human nature.

Now, after the fall, this desire should have increased, intensified by the awareness of our grave sinfulness. This awareness of sin is an expression of humility, without which Adam was deceived by the devil. This awareness of sin and distance from God is repentance! Through repentance, faith is given: The Lord reveals Himself only to those who are aware of their sinfulness. Thus, first of all, we must cultivate humility; through humility, we will turn to repentance. Humility grants a man all the benefits of the Holy Spirit, and above all, the spirit of repentance, to which the Lord God calls us: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Everyone without exception must repent—both great sinners and people of God with small sins who think there’s no need for them to repent of small everyday sins such as sinful words, thoughts, desires, and intentions, and similar trifles.

However, the Holy Apostles urge us to repent (these evangelists were infallible organs of the Holy Spirit, according to St. John Chrysostom); thus, St. John the Theologian said: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 Jn. 1:8); that is, in the very thought that you have no sin, there is already sin. The holy Apostle James said: For in many things we offend all (Jas. 3:2), and the holy Apostle Paul said: … of whom I am first (1 Tim. 1:15)! Thus, if such universal luminaries repent like this, then how can we dare to say that we have no sin for which to repent before God? Such egotism is spiritually destructive. The Lord will reject such conceited “righteous ones” at the Dread Judgment, saying: I never knew you: depart from Me; they’ll object: In Thy name [we] have cast out devils; and in Thy name [we have] done many wonderful works (Matt. 7:22–23). Saying this, they think they were holy while living on earth (having no apparent sins), and in the eyes of others they appeared as such. But the Lord will cast such self-esteemers away from His presence forever! This is how dangerous it is to think that we have no sin and therefore no need to repent. On the other hand, if we’ll be judged so severely for small sins, then what can be said about great ones, in which men persist even until death? Lord save us from such insensibility!

In order not to reach such a state, we must watch over our heart ,mind, and thoughts, and smash them immediately (when they appear), while they’re still babes and haven’t grown large; that is, they haven’t turned into vices and haven’t become natural for us. Crush them as soon as they are born or appear in the conscience—on the rock, that is, the name of Jesus Christ; then you’ll be blessed. In this way, you won’t allow these germs of sin in, then you won’t have any great sins either. And since without God’s help or the grace of the Holy Spirit we can’t do anything good and salvific, and we can’t even think without the help of our Creator, then we must of necessity ask help of Him, at all times, in all our deeds and undertakings. However, even in this case, due to his infirm nature, man will fall, being persecuted by the enemies of our salvation. Then we must rise and amend ourselves. But how? Through repentance before God. For example, as soon as you notice within yourself, in light of your conscience, sins of word, or mind, or thought, or some other sinful passion that can torment you at any time and place, repent to God that very minute, saying to Him: “Lord, forgive and help me!” These five words must be said either out loud or in a whisper, or mentally (depending on the situation)—say this prayer several times, or rather, until you sigh. This sigh signifies the grace of the Holy Spirit, which has forgiven us the sin for which we’re repenting at that moment.

Then every demonic action will fall away from us, and if it comes again after some time, then say this prayer again. This is the only way a man attains purity of heart and spiritual peace. The Lord says: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Mt. 5:8), and again: His place has been in peace (Ps. 75:3), that is, His dwelling place is in a peaceful soul. But in order to have such a good habit of repenting before God, it’s necessary to start practicing this when going to bed; that is, before lying down on your bed, you should think about how the day was spent. Crush and humble your feelings: Truly, this day has been spent in complete forgetfulness of God, and in any case say to yourself: “O Lord, do not forget me, who forgets You!” And sigh for your lack of faith and love of God. Remember how the day was spent and how you angered God and offended your neighbor… and then repent to God for the whole day, saying the above words—that is, “Lord, forgive me and help me!” With these words, a man acknowledges his infirmity and entreats grace-filled help from God, without which a man is nothing. There’s a Church hymn about this: Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain who build (Ps. 126:1). Thus, when you learn the habit of repenting to God before going to bed, this skill or habit will move to the middle of the day and then to the morning, and then to the very moment of sin—that is, you’ll catch yourself at the scene of the crime and repent to God.

Such repentance before God leads to perfection or to holiness without any special ascetic labors, as the Holy Fathers have said. God doesn’t require extraordinary feats from us, but only small and constant ones, said St. John Chrysostom.

This is what we have to say about repentance before God.

To be continued…

Following the recent visit of His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe to Brussels for the service of Unction in the capital’s Memorial Church of St Job and the Divine Liturgy in the same city’s Resurrection Parish, Vladyka was interviewed by the Diocese’s web site staff about the commemoration of the centenary of Patriarch St Tikhon, which was held on the Sunday of Bishop Irenei’s Belgian visitation.

    

—Vladyka, this year, you instructed all parishes of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe to specially mark the commemoration of Patriarch Tikhon’s blessed repose on the final Sunday of Great Lent. Was there a particular reason for this?

It was a decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops that this year the whole ROCOR would mark in a special way the 100-year anniversaries of two great hierarchs linked to the establishment and martyric growth of our Church Abroad: Fourteen Facts about the Life and Struggles of Patriarch TikhonIn 1917 began what would become perhaps the most complex period in the history of the Russian Church. In great measure thanks to St. Tikhon, his dedication to his service, and his personal martyric podvig, the Church survived that era. It was literally “carried on the shoulders” of the holy patriarch from the flames of persecution and social turmoil.

“>Patriarch St Tikhon of Moscow, who reigned at the time of the godless revolution in Russia and oversaw the initial formation of the Church Abroad, granting its founding his Patriarchal blessing and establishing its abiding canonical basis, in its autonomy, through his famous Decree No. 362; and the confessor-hierarch St Jonah of Hankow, better known to English speakers as St Jonah of Manchuria, who was a great spiritual witness to the Truth of the Church. Both saints were glorified by the Church Abroad: St Tikhon in 1981, and St Jonah in 1996. In the years that followed, other parts of the Orthodox world confirmed these canonisations by their own local processes.

By an instruction from the Holy Synod, the names of both these confessor-hierarchs are being included in the dismissal of every Divine Liturgy served in all our parishes, throughout the whole year.

—Why did you instruct this Sunday in particular to be dedicated to St Tikhon’s memory?

This, too, was a decision of the Holy Synod, which in our Diocese we have implemented in concert with the pious Archpastors of all the other Dioceses of the Church. This date was chosen as the Sunday nearest the Feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, 25th March / 7th April, which this year falls on a Monday. The holy Patriarch fell asleep in the Lord on this feast in the year 1925 (which, as it happened, was a Sunday that year), having served the Divine Liturgy a final time, made weak and frail from years of severest persecution by the atheists.

This year, we mark the centenary of that pious and blessed repose, and the next day celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, lifting up our prayers together with him to God’s Mother, whom he loved and continues to love.

—Can you tell us more about why Patriarch Tikhon is such an important figure for our faithful today?

There are so many reasons! First and foremost, and above all else, he is a true image of the love of God and fidelity to His Will. In a world ever more furiously tossed about by the waves of relativism, renovation, revolution and blind self-determinism, he is an example of a different and infinitely better way of life: one grounded in God’s self-revelation, and wholly committed to the life He grants.

Secondly, St Tikhon holds an especially dear place to all children of the Russian Orthodox diaspora, whose home is in the Church Abroad, as he was instrumental in the founding of the ROCOR. In those terrible years following the Bolshevik destruction of Godly rule and the attempt to create a godless society through the active elimination of all institutions and individuals who sought to follow Him, St Tikhon, with divine clarity of vision, foresaw that the continued existence of the Church in her full freedom, in the lands succumbing to those terrible worldly powers, would be impossible. He therefore blessed, offered Patriarchal counsel to, interacted with, and granted his authorisation to the formation of an administration outside of the crumbling Russian Empire, and in due course issued a Patriarchal Decree in 1920 granting the secure canonical basis for the formation of what came to be known as our Church Abroad. This Decree, together with his interactions and other documents, established the nature of the ROCOR’s autonomy and self-governance, which were so diligently preserved the better part of a century later, when the Act of Reconciliation was signed.

—Is this the Act of 2007, by which the restoration of communion with the Patriarchate was re-established?

Yes. At that time, the Primates of the two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church — Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and Metropolitan Laurus of the ROCOR — followed very closely the spirit of St Tikhon, carefully preserving the character of the Church Abroad’s autonomy and heritage, whilst joyfully restoring the bonds of fraternal love after so many years of forced estrangement. How could that love not be embraced, in light of the defeat, at long last, of those atheistic powers that had held the Russian lands captive for so long? Really, to behold the warm embrace of Patriarch Alexei and Metropolitan Laurus — both of whom have since gone on to the next life — it was a profound moment of grace. Yet that love was met out with wisdom: the two parts of historic Russian Orthodoxy remained and remain each self-governing. The world had changed much since 1920, and yet it was mutually affirmed that the autonomy of the two parts of the Church remained blessed and useful, and so would continue in perpetuity. The Patriarchate, freed from Communist interference, would attend to the flock in its vast territories; and the Church Abroad, having become ‘local’ to so many regions of the diaspora for nearly a century, would continue its ministry to that flock, linked to no State, nation or government, but reaching out from ancient origins to the various corners of the world. I cannot help but feel that Patriarch Tikhon was present in this whole process, through his intercessions, guiding those Archpastors and Primates, in carrying forward the work he had begun. And now, 18 years after the signing of that Act, we bear witness to the continuation of his vision, as both the Patriarchate and the ROCOR continue to grow, side by side, retaining each their independence while maintaining spiritual bonds of love. Our Church Abroad remains governed by our Primate, the First Hierarch in New York, with our own Holy Synod, our own statutes, and our own unique identity and mission.

—At the beginning of its history, then, what was Patriarch Tikhon’s relationship to the governance of the ROCOR?

It is absolutely clear that in the earliest years of her life, the Hierarchy and faithful of the Church Abroad actively considered their labours to be undertaken wholly in concert and spiritual fellowship with the legitimate, saintly, and suffering Patriarch, who from 1922 was imprisoned by the bolsheviks for his confession of faith. The journals and magazines published by the diaspora communities in those years demonstrate this on almost every page. The Higher Church Administration of what became known as our ROCOR, despite having been given the autonomy to act in its own right (and when it did so, and Patriarch Tikhon eventually was able to be made known of its decisions amidst his sufferings, he offered his blessing as a sign of his acknowledgement of that governance being rightly exercised), our first Primate and the Hierarchs surrounding him consciously sought to do everything in spiritual and — so far as was possible — practical communion with the long-suffering Patriarch imprisoned in Moscow. Quickly the practical possibilities deteriorated, but not the spiritual communion.

We can only be grateful to our man-befriending God that the rectitude of canonical communion between the two parts of historic Russian Orthodoxy has been restored in our day, and with it the healing of so many other disruptions of unity in the Faith. Many today misunderstand the nature of canonical communion, seeking to see everything in political terms, as if it equates to administrative authority or is paralleled to political governance — as if one part of the Church ‘controls’ another, or one is subservient to the other, and so on. But this is deeply to misunderstand the nature of Church life. What such a canonical relationship fundamentally means is that, today, both parts of the Russian Orthodox Church — the Church in Russia and the Church Outside Russia — precisely maintain their complete autonomy in administrative, pastoral and such matters, while choosing, in adherence to the ancient Canons, to lay open their canonical actions to the mutual examination and affirmation of one another, as is the ancient practice of all Orthodox Churches. In the world, man often lives in isolation, but not in the Church! We freely lay open our lives before one another, standing ‘on our own two feet’, but eagerly seeking the counsel of fraternal relations to bear common witness to the One Apostolic Faith. This, too, we see so much in the life of St Tikhon.

—Vladyka, if I can ask it like this, what would you say is St Tikhon’s message for us today?

I would say two principal things, amongst many others. First, as a confessor who offered the whole of his life — even unto his death — in martyric witness to God’s love, he reminds all of us of the fidelity and constancy required of true Christians. We live in such weak times, today! Our generation crumbles in fear and panic at the slightest provocations! But when we turn to a saint such as Patriarch Tikhon, who saw the whole world around him crumble, and centuries of Orthodox life and freedom attacked and suppressed in the most vicious possible terms, we witness a saint who never wavered in standing with and for the God Whom he loved and served.

Secondly, St Tikhon reminds us all — particularly in the diaspora — of what it means to bear the title ‘Russian Orthodox Christians’. Especially in the current political moment, when the dreadful political circumstances of the present day make some in the West uncomfortable with the seemingly political connotations of such a title, St Tikhon bears witness to what we really mean when we use it: we refer to a spiritual heritage drawn from a millennium of Orthodox piety and faith that, in our case, emerged from the lands of ancient Rus’ and its many peoples, cultures and languages, and was handed down to us by those very saints, even to our day. By his very act of blessing the foundation of the Church Abroad as a separate part of Russian Orthodoxy, St Tikhon confirmed for his generation and ours that this spiritual culture is not inextricably linked to any place, State or regime. It is a divine inheritance! We give thanks to God, the Maker of the soil in those lands where these saints attained His life, from which sprouted trees whose branches cover the whole world. And we give thanks to St Tikhon and so many others like him, who show us that we are inheritors of this spiritual culture here, in Europe, in America, in Australia — everywhere that the children of the Church seek after His will. We all have the same Fatherland.

—Fatherland? What do you mean when you say this?

It is a most beautiful word: we speak of the land of our fathers. Our inheritance. Our homeland. And while sometimes, in our human narrowness, we reduce this idea almost entirely to physical lands or countries, this is ‘to miss the forest for the trees’, as the saying goes. Our one and true Fatherland is the Kingdom of God — nothing less, and nothing else. And as this Fatherland has shone its light on different human nations and states over the centuries, we give thanks for that influence, cherish that legacy, and seek to follow it to its source.

Ioannina, Epirus, Greece, April 8, 2025

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr   

His Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Konitsa reposed in the Lord on Saturday, April 5, reports Romfea.

The hierarch, who was in poor health lately, was 86.

His Eminence had been hospitalized at the G. Hatzikosta General Hospital of Ioannina Greek Metropolitan of Konitsa rushed to hospitalHis Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Konitsa, 85, was rushed to Hatzikosta Hospital in Ioannina in serious condition yesterday.

“>since Christmas Eve after suffering a severe stroke and internal bleeding due to a fall. He previously suffered a mild stroke Greek Metropolitan of Konitsa suffers mild strokeThe Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis, Pogoniani and Konitsa of the Church of Greece suffered a mild stroke late last month and is now recovering at home.”>in 2022.

His funeral was served yesterday at the Church of St. Kosmas of Aetolia in Konitsa. The service was led by Metropolitan Panteleimonos of Xanthi together with 12 other hierarchs.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr   

In Konitsa and Delvinaki, the seat of the Metropolis, flags are flying at half-mast while the municipal services and schools remain closed, participating in the mourning.

Funeral speeches were offered by ecclesiastical and civil authorities alike. “He lived more as a monk than as a bishop,” said Mayor Andreas Papaspyrou of Konitsa.

Met. Andreas was then buried at the Holy Monastery of the Supreme Archangels Michael and Gabriel of Goura in Aidonochori.

Epirus TV News covered his funeral and burial:

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May Met. Andreas’ memory be eternal!

***

Born Andreas Trempelas in Patras in 1939, he graduated from the Theological School of Athens in 1963. He was ordained as a deacon in 1968 and as a priest in 1969.

He served as a preacher in the Metropolis of Dryinoupolis from 1967 (initially as a layman, then as a deacon, and later as a priest-archimandrite) until 1995.

On January 25, 1995, he was elected Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis with 32 votes, competing with Archimandrites Chrysostomos Koutoulakis (31 votes) and Ierotheos Petridis (4 votes).

On January 28, 1995, he was consecrated as bishop at the Holy Church of St. Demetrios in Ambelokipi, Athens, and was enthroned in Delvinaki and Konitsa on April 1 of the same year.

From 1995 to 2025, he shepherded the Metropolis of Konitsa, demonstrating rich pastoral and spiritual work.

On the issue of defending the homeland and its morals and values, he continued in the line of his predecessor, Metropolitan Sebastianos, and never stopped speaking about Northern Epirus and Macedonia.

On Christmas Eve 2024, Met. Andreas was admitted to Ioannina Hospital after suffering a severe stroke and internal bleeding due to a fall. Due to the stroke and his health condition, he was relieved of his duties by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on March 10, 2025.

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St. Julie Billiart was born in 1751. She had six siblings, and at the age of 16, she began teaching to help bring in money for her family. She had a great love of Jesus in the Eucharist from a young age.

When someone tried to murder Julie’s father, her health disintegrated, and she was paralyzed for 22 years. During this time, she offered all her sufferings to God.

In the French Revolution, Julie opened up her home to loyal priests who had been forced into hiding, and herself had to flee from danger several times. Around this time, she received a vision of the Crucified Christ, standing with a large group of women dressed in religious habits. A voice told her she would begin a religious institute dedicated to educating young girls in the faith.

In 1803, Julie and a rich young woman began the teaching order, the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The following year, Julie was miraculously healed, and could walk again.

St. Julie died peacefully at the age of 64, in 1816, and was canonized in 1969.