The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymos urged the candidate clergy not to bend and not to be timid in an event that took place this afternoon in the seminar room of the Foundation for Pastoral Education of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, in the context of the Third Week of Fasting, which is dedicated in Priestly Vocations, under the responsibility of the IPE.

At the event of the meeting of the candidates and new clergy with the heads of the Holy Churches of the IAA, the Archbishop emphasized that this week, in the middle of Great Lent and with a high point on the Sunday of the Pilgrimage to the Cross, is dedicated to them. It is under the shadow of the Cross but it is heading towards the perspective of the Resurrection. Christ initially called the Apostles, later through the centuries great ecclesiastical men, ecumenical teachers, holy Fathers of the Church appeared, most recently Saint Nektarios who dedicated himself particularly to priestly education. This tradition continues, the Church still calls its children to serve the holy Altar and the man himself.

Archbishop Hieronymos pointed out to the clergy that they will encounter difficulties on their way. After all, difficulties exist everywhere, noted the Primate of the Hellenic Church and emphasized that there is nothing we can do in this life that does not have difficulties. “However, you must not bend, you must not be timid, love God and ask for his help,” he pointed out and invited them to cooperate with each other and continue to gain knowledge.

Afterwards, the Metropolitan of Syros, Tinos, Andros, Keas and Milos Dorotheos addressed a greeting, who referred to priestly vocations and called on the candidates to never lose the ecclesiastical ethos and attitude, as well as obedience to the Church and the Bishop. “Today we need ethics and obedience, not with a slavish attitude, but obedience with the spirit of love, as Christ obeyed God the Father”, emphasized the reverend.

The Archbishop of Crete, Eugenios, also attended the event, who thanked the Archbishop, with whom, as he said, he is of the same mind and praised his work for the unity of the Church, while he then addressed the candidate clergy.

Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who was present, expressed his joy at the meeting with the new candidates and wished them strength.

The archdiocese of Athens, Archimandrite Varnavas Theocharis, for his part, referred to the value of the priesthood and invited the young candidates to reflect on what priesthood means and how much responsibility the priestly ministry requires. At the same time, he emphasized that he is available – by order of His Beatitude – to help with all the necessary procedures before the sacrament of their ordination. He also pointed out that we must serve the priesthood humbly, not with an individual, but with an ecclesiastical mind, and not with an individual, but with an ecclesiastical conscience.

The director of the Pastoral Training Foundation, Archimandrite Theologos Alexandrakis, stated that the characteristics of a liturgical ministry pleasing to God are faith, zeal, consistency, seriousness, humility and lifelong training and that the Pastoral Training Foundation has prepared a special program, targeted at the needs of candidates, but also of new clergy whose purpose is to introduce students to the basic principles of the Pastoral Theology of the Church, to improve and enrich the knowledge and skills of clergy and clergy candidates regarding liturgical and ritual issues, but also to train them in managing and dealing with the various pastoral challenges, in organizing and planning pastoral actions by making use of pastoral, spiritual, ritual, social, technological and other parameters of church life, in order to strengthen the ability to plan and implement actions at parish, inter-parish, metropolitan and inter-metropolitan level.

The “Candidates/new clergy and lay officials” program, as well as the other two, “Issues of Worship and Liturgical Education” and “Consulting on contemporary issues (confessional-bioethics)”, will be implemented in the near future with the method of mixed distance education (synchronous and asynchronous) through the online e-learning platform of IPE (https://learning.ipe.gr).