Archimandrite Panteleimon Arathimos
March 6, 2011
Romfea.gr
On March 5 the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodoros II officiated at the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Patriarchal Church of Saint Savva the Sanctified in Alexandria, where they sang for the first time the "Service of Praise for the Synaxis of the Righteous and God-bearing Fathers of the Thebaid in Egypt Who Shined in Asceticism".
The above mentioned Holy Service was written by Archimandrite Agathonikos Nikolaides, approved by the Holy Synod of the Alexandrian Church, and distributed by the Metropolis of Eirinoupolis and Seychelles Islands.
The Holy Abba's of the Thebaid desert are the honor and glory of the Patriarchate and of the Orthodox Church generally, since the Nile region and Africa was their homeland, as well as the fact that the Thebaid was the place where thousands of ascetics showed that perfection of spiritual life in Christ is not a utopia, but reality, which involves struggle, toil and sacrifice.
Translated by John Sanidopoulos