DEACON’S ORDINATION AT THE PATRIARCHATE
On Wednesday night to Thursday October 11 to 12/24 to 25, 2018, the ordination of Mr. Savvas Mahouli to Deacon took place during the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre.
The ordination was held according to the decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, by the Most Reverend Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, in order that the ordained will minister as a Deacon and consequently as a Priest at the parish of the Greek Orthodox Arab-speaking Community of Tarsiha, a town in North Israel.
Before the ordination His Eminence spoke in fatherly words to the ordained as follows;
“Most devout sub-deacon Savvas,
At this hour we are blessed by God to be at the most sacred place in the world. The place of Horrendous Golgotha and of the Holy Tomb. The place of the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also blessed to officiate a sacred sacrament. The sacrament of the Last Supper, the sacrament of the Eucharist. Within the frame of this salvific sacrament there is another one. The sacrament of your ordination to Deacon, your settlement in the first degree of Priesthood.
You are called to accept this sacrament after the positive suggestion of your reverend father, steward Fr. Theodosios Mahouli, of the steward Fr. Gregory Houri and the Council of the Greek Orthodox Community of Tarsiha and of the Patriarchal Representative in Acre Ptolemais, Archimandrite Philotheos. This suggestion was approved and blessed by H.H. Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and the Holy and Sacred Synod, so that you are going to minister the Greek Orthodox flock of Tarsiha.
It is indeed a great honour and a great responsibility that the Church puts on your shoulders, because we have taken into consideration your Christian upbringing from your father and Priest, and your mother. Of course we have taken into consideration your studies in Theology at the University of St. Tyckon in Pennsylvania and your pedagogical studies in Ukraine.
Thank God first of all for this election, and all those who have suggested you, the Patriarchate which approved the proposal, and promise that from today forth, you are going to return the favour with your honest, devout and pure ministry. Let the Holy Bible be your reading, as well as the Fathers of the Church and especially the two Epistles of St. Paul to Deacon Timothy, and let your work be the devout worship of God and the ministry of the people in the Church.
Come forth, therefore, in faith, fear of God but also in courage and hope, kneel in front of the Angel’s stone of the Holy Tomb and by the placing of the hands of the Archbishop, entreat the Holy Spirit to come down on you, to purify you from all sin and establish you a vessel of holiness and all other virtue.”
Through the placing of the hands of the Archbishop on the head of the ordained and the invocation “the Divine Grace….”, the All-holy Spirit established him in the first degree of Priesthood. Those present witnessed the event by calling “Axios, Axios” in great joy. The ones who honoured the ordained were the Patriarchal Representative in Acre, Archimandrite Philotheos, the new Deacon’s Father, Priest Theodosios, his mother, other relatives of his, the Priest of Tarsiha Steward Gregory, fellow citizens of his, Hagiotaphite Fathers and Monks and pilgrims.
The newly ordained Deacon offered a reception to all those who honoured him at the Office of Geronda Sacristan, Most Reverend Archbishop Isidoros of Hierapolis, who was represented by Monk Nikolaos.
From Secretariat-General