On the weekend of 7 to 8 November His Eminence Archbishop Sergios visited the Church of the Holy Archangels in George. He officiated on the Saturday evening at the Vespers Service in anticipation of the Feast Day for the Holy Archangels which included an Artoclasia. And at the Service of the Holy Eucharist on Sunday morning. He was joined by Father George Pittaras, parish priest from East London, and Deacon Father Yiannis Tyropolis from Port Elizabeth. Psalters included Mrs Martha Averginos and Jordanis Prodromou from George and Mr Yiannis Carambassis and Mr Gabriel Athiros who are both very active members of the Cape Town Parish.
The Orthodox Church in George is the only Church in the country which is dedicated to the Holy Archangels and every year many people travel from all over South Africa to attend the Feast day celebrations.
In his address after the Service His Eminence said that the body-less angels were created by God before man. The angels had free will and one of them rebelled against God and tried to convince the other angels to join them. It was Archangel Michael who stood firm and convinced the other angels not to join Lucifer. This created the division and evil which we still experience to this day in the world today
God out of his love for us gives us all free will and the angels are there to guide and protect us. We cannot blame Him for aeroplane crashes, conflict, wars, corruption, crime and discrimination against the “civilised and uncivilised. “A good example is the thousands of refugees that have found solace in Lesvos, Greece. Churches are being used to house the refugees and the inhabitants of the Island are seeing to their basic everyday needs, even though Greece is in an economic crisis.
He thanked the priests and the psalters and Mr Kritzas for keeping the community active and Mr Nassos Martalas who is the president of the first Hellenic Community to be formed in South Africa and said that his presence was significant of the co-operation of the various communities in the country and ended by wishing all those who were celebrating their name day.
The community hosted everyone at a cocktail after the evening Vespers Service and a celebratory lunch was held on Sunday.
