In His speech, His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Mr. Hieronymus B’ referred to the importance and role, that the Saints play in our lives, marking the way to salvation, and, invoking the Scripture "and the stones were shaken", emphasized that "many wanted to close the mouth of the Catacombs of Milos, but with their "silence" the stones of the holy Memorial led us to today's solemn meeting and give us strength to continue our mission, calling us to unity, we are the first to set an example to the People."
Subsequently, His Eminence Mr.. Dorotheos B’ addressed His Beatitude as follows:
Address of the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Syros & Milos Mr. Dorotheou B’ to His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Mr. Hieronymus B’ on the Proclamation of Milos as a Holy Island
"His Beatitude Archbishop of Athens and all Greece,
K. We sanctify,
Accepting today to the hearing, surrounded by and long known for its rich mineral island Melon, the island of the seven spiritual and social Parishes and the holy Catacombs, on the seventh day of the Greek-wide parochial Church Koryphi, we rejoice and rejoice and we proclaim our joy.
And to the ear, Blessed are you, I don't know about this joy, welcoming you, the First among us and the enthroned Tagon of the Autocephalous and Apostolic Church of Greece, for a quarter they are already visiting the islands of our Holy Metropolis, blessing her faithful people and co-operating with us, to Sifnon, therefore, on the 5th of June in the year eight and two thousand, εἰς hierān nῆson Tῆnon, on the 15th of August in the same year, and to the nascent Hermoupolis, the cathedral of our Holy Metropolis, on the 6th of December in the year three and ten and two thousandth.
And now, Your Beatitude, Father and Despot, We welcome you, after the Seventh Choir of the Venerable Brothers High Priests, to Melon, it has been inhabited since ancient times, in the area of Phylakopi of which, one of the first European cities flourished and became the center of the Cycladic Culture.
We welcome you to a summer, the inhabitants of which, they distinguished themselves for their love of freedom, they refused to offer land and water to the Persians, they fought in the naval battle of Salamis, during the Peloponnesian War they painfully experienced the bitter experience of the submission of love for peace and freedom to the unjust and cruel justice of the stronger, but also among the first against the Ottoman rule, on the 11th of April 1821 they rebelled.
We call out "as eὖ parestete" in the city, which in the morning the saving message of Christ's teaching was absorbed and in the riches of which the seed of the Church, like a mustard seed, in the wet and dark corridors and arcosolia of the Catacombs he was buried and grew like a dark-leaved tree, sanctifying her and those on her!
The Holy Catacombs, the only one in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean Early Christian Semnoma and similar to the Catacombs of Rome Respect, the sacred treasury of thousands of holy souls, everyone brought us together today, at the end of the official recognition and the worldwide declaration that this island, in which we have been holy ground!
Because the Catacombs of Milos are not just an early Christian, Let it be, cemetery, but it is the secret and underground "haystack" of, under the silence and fragrance of Milia, land of rest, holy souls, of the Lord of Christian Greece from the beginning.
It is the blessed house, under the dark and wet domes of which in a unique and unrepeatable way the society of the living and the dying, of the Church on earth and triumphant in heaven, manifested …
It is the unpretentious Altar, the barely illuminated by the lamp, from whom warm prayers to the Lord were offered….
It is the holy place, to whom the purpose of the new religion was quickly revealed, as the death of the old man and his radical rebirth in Christ.
Within its catathons the seed of the blessed bread fell and rose, the suffocating thorns of wickedness and sin.
The Catacombs of Milos are, also, and a monument of unique cultural value, as the inscriptions, the universal symbols, the original Baptistry, the lamps and the constantly rediscovered architectural "members", they make these the most important and most representative of the Christian Relics, which before our eyes erases the life of the heroic athletic Church and proves to be the first artistic center, under whose dark domes the ancients of ecclesiastical arts were cultivated.
Blessed are you,
Dear Brothers,
The pious and noble people of Milos are filled with profound emotion., the equal after the holy Cleros, of the philogenic Associations, Associations and Bodies, of the teachers and the students celebrating and rejoicing with us on this day of the vindication of many years of efforts, the happy achievements celebrated today are due to the harmonious cooperation of the Church, State and Local Self-Government.
Glorifying the Lord worshiped in Trinity, because they have earned us the unique privilege of shepherding a Province, the holy islands are already adorned, Panagiofylakton Tino and Theofrouriton Milo, dutifully and dutifully grace we recognize and offer thanks first of all to You, Blessed are you, the President and the Honorable Brothers, co-participating in the Permanent Holy Synod of the 153rd Synodal Period (2008-2009), those of you who have accepted and adopted today's Sermon.
Grateful thanks are also due to the latter for the initiative of introducing for a vote in the Parliament of the Greeks the Synodical Diagnosis of introduction, Minister of the Interior at the time Mr. Prokopion Pavlopoulon, Konstantinos Karamanlis Prime Minister.
We consider it worthy and fair to thank those who have effectively contributed to the work of the Most High President of the Republic and. Karolou Papoulias signature and issuance of the Presidential Decree recognizing Milos as a holy island, Ministers of the Interior under the honorable Mr. Antonion Samaras Government, K. K. Euripides Stylianides and Ioannis Michelakis, as well as the Entomologist President of the Council of the Empire, Mr. Sotirion Rizon and the Plenary on it.
Blessed are you,
By the providence and grace of the Almighty God, today we celebrate the proclamation, or rather, the confession of the sanctity of the island of Milos, commemoration day of the great ascetic, theologian and ecclesiastical writer Saint Jerome, of and recognized by Western Theology as the "Greatest Teacher", and another Ephorus drawn.
On this blessed occasion, accept, Blessed are you, as a sign of unconditional love and respect, in the Monastery of Xenophon of the Holy Mountain, the icon of the holy teacher of the virtues and mystic of Grace was preserved, after the same and wholehearted wishes, of us and of the Holy Clergy around us, of the Solitary Orders and the faithful People, as the Lord our God, Sponsor of the Holy Spirit, through the embassies of His Magnificent Mother, The seven icons from Milos, of the chosen "Korfiatissa", and from the holy place of Kimolos, of the selected "Guide", they are going to worship, of Saints Panteleimon of Iamatikos and Methodia of Kimolos, holy relics of which for blessing and sanctification are now presented to us, as well as all the Saints resting in the holy Catacombs, worthy of the supreme blessedness that worshiped me, steer the Autocephalous and Apostolic Church of Greece, because of our wisdom and the rare advantages and great virtues that adorn us, for many years, healthy, be gracious and gracious, of appeals, as the Reigning People to its Patriarch, on the day of Mid-Pentecost:
"May God bless your Archdiocese in many good times".
End, the Synodal Documents and the relevant Presidential Decree declaring Milos as a HOLY ISLAND were read from the Pulpit and to the enthusiastic cheers of those present.
imsyrou.gr