On Sunday, 10 June, His Eminence Archbishop Sergios officiated at the Divine Liturgy of Pentecost to mark the patronal feast of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Durban. The Liturgy was served together with Fr. Constantinos Kosmidis and Fr. George Yiannakopoulos from Johannesburg and was followed by an Artoklasia. After this, the Kneeling Vespers of Pentecost was served.
In his address after the service, His Eminence said that at Pentecost we celebrate the creation of the One Church by the Holy Spirit who was sent by God The Father. Christ is the Head of the Church and human beings make up His Body. The unity that exists between the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity provides a model for the unity of the Church. The human race was created by God as one and each unique person also receives living energy from the Holy Trinity and all that is necessary for their life.
His Eminence said that the Holy Trinity acts as One God. Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus Christ prayed for the Church to be one as the Holy Trinity is One. The Church was established by the Holy Spirit in order to support us through our present life and to lead us to eternal life. At Pentecost, the followers of Christ were assembled into One Body, with Christ as the Head and the Church understands itself as the One Body of Christ.
His Eminence encouraged the youth leader, Mr Savvas Kritikos, and the youth to continue to attend church and to be active in the life of the parish. He also thanked the non-Greek Orthodox Faithful for attending the services, and emphasised that language should not be a barrier to our communion in the Church. On the contrary, it is very fruitful for different language groups with their various cultural customs to worship together. This is what God has called us to do and what unites us as Orthodox Christians.
After the service a celebratory festival was held for the feast of Pentecost. The dancing group performed traditional dances led by the dancing teacher Evangelia Joannou, and the children from the Greek School, under the direction of Presvetera Anastasia Kosmidis, participated in poems related to the feast.
In his welcome address, the chairman of the Hellenic Community, Mr. Sotiris Stavrinou, congratulated Fr. George Yiannacopoulos who had travelled to Durban for the launch of his published book on the life story of the late Priest Fr. Savvas Pappadaniel who was originally a teacher who came from Cyprus. Fr. Savvas had also served as a teacher in Umtali and then as a Parish Priest in Brakpan and finally at the Church of The Holy Trinity in KZN-Natal where he ended his life.
His Eminence responded by saying that festivities relating to the church are also a time to remember the priests that have served us in the past that have passed away and that this was an appropriate day to pay tribute to the late Fr. Savvas and to celebrate the launch of the book on his life story . He also mentioned other recently deceased priests who had served at the Church of the Holy Trinity, namely the late Bishop of Nafcratis, His Eminence Kyrilos, and Fr. Minas Constandinou.
