The Epiphany was officially celebrated for the first time in Smyrna with special emotion and due splendor, 94 years after the Asia Minor disaster…….
The consecration of the waters took place on the historic Quai of Smyrna opposite the old Greek consulate under renovation, parish priest of the first orthodox priest of Smyrna, father Kyrillos.
Early in the morning in Ag. Bright, the church that forms the basis of the Orthodox community of Smyrna, expatriates and Russians attended the divine service, Georgians, and Ukrainian Christians as well as many visitors from the neighboring islands of Chios and Lesvos, the younger ones of which "fought" for the cross a little later.
Upon completion of the ceremony, the release of the dove and the withdrawal of the cross, Father Kyrillos expressed his emotion about the "historic", as he described it, event thanking the authorities of the country who allowed it, as he said, "to feel in practice the continuity of the generation, of the race, of faith, of history as God records it". He thanked the Local Authorities for the security and assistance they provided for the implementation of this "historic sacred ceremony".
He particularly thanked the consul general of Smyrna Theodoros Tsakiris "who embraces the community and the church with much love", the MP and representative of the Greek government Andreas Michailidis, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, Father Lorenzo, the superior of the Catholic cathedral father Maximilianos, the swimmers who retrieved the “cross of martyrdom, of the Church and our nation" to whom he wished "every progress and progress together with all other people wherever they are".
In closing, he wished all of Rome to always walk in the flow and time of history and in any circumstances to declare its presence and sent everyone "our love with the drops from the tears and joy of our ancestors today".
The celebration was held unofficially a few years ago and the expectation, as Father Kyrillos expressed it, "is to establish the celebration of the Lights on the beach, i.e. in a public place".
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