Nea Krini, Thessaloniki, October 30, 2023
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
A chapel in honor of the recently canonized St. Joseph the Hesychast was consecrated in Thessaloniki this weekend.
St. Joseph the Hesychast, one of the greatest saints of the 20th century, was canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in March 2020.
In America and Canada, St. Joseph is especially venerated as the spiritual “grandfather” of the brotherhoods and sisterhoods of the many monasteries founded by Elder Ephraim, who was a spiritual child of St. Joseph for many years. The saint’s precious skull is treasured at St. Anthony’s Monastery in Florence, Arizona, where Elder Ephraim spent the last decades of his life.
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
And of course, St. Joseph is highly venerated in his native Greece, where a chapel was consecrated in his honor yesterday, Sunday, October 29. The chapel, located at the Church of St. Paraskevi in the Nea Krini section of Thessaloniki, was consecrated by Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi Monastery on Mt. Athos in the presence of Metropolitan Justin of Nea Krini, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
Earlier, Fr. Ephraim celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St. Paraskevi.
Met. Justin thanked the Vatopedi abbot for his presence at the consecration, as he was a spiritual grandson of Elder Joseph the Hesychast.
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
In July 2020, the world’s first parish church in honor of St. Joseph the Hesychast was consecrated in Tbilisi, Georgia. In June 2021, St. Joseph the Hesychast Church at St. Joseph the Hesychast Monastery in Toliara, Madagascar, was consecrated.
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