The Patriarchal and Synodal Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of Orthodoxy was celebrated today at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in the Phanar, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Epifaniy, concelebrating.
This significant feast day commemorates the victory of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the veneration of Holy Icons, as established in 843 AD by Empress Theodora and Patriarch Methodios of Constantinople. The triumph marked the end of the iconoclastic controversy, affirming the rightful place of sacred images in Orthodox Christian worship.
Metropolitan Epifaniy’s official visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate began on March 7, 2025.
As part of this visit, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated on the morning of March 8, the feast day of St. Theodore the Tyro, at the church dedicated to the saint. The service was attended by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Metropolitan Epifaniy, Archbishop Makarios of Australia, as well as hierarchs and faithful from the local Orthodox community.