Ecumenical Patriarch: We have placed our trust in the Cross of Christ and in His Mother | Orthodox Times (en)

On Friday, 21 November 2025, the Feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided at the Divine Liturgy in the festively celebrating Cathedral of the same name of the Most Holy Archdiocese of Constantinople in Pera. Concelebrating with the Patriarch were Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi, Metropolitan Irenaeus of Myriophyto and Peristasis, Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium, Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria, Metropolitan Maximos of Sylivria, Metropolitan Jakobos of Mexico, and Bishop Dositheos from the Patriarchate of Georgia.
The sermon was delivered by the Protopresbyter Athanasios Gikas, Dean of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Following the Dismissal, the Patriarch delivered an extensive homily on the great feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos.
“We celebrate,” he said, “because through the young Virgin Mary the Cross entered the world — the Cross upon …