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Dimitriados Ignatios: "Faith is not words, but an act of love" – The first "Village Restoration" in Stagiates Peliontranslated

July 12, 2026 · 1 min read

Today, Sunday July 12, 2026, Rev. Metropolitan of Dimitrias, Mr. Ignatios, on the occasion of the organization, for the first time, of the "Village Celebration", a special event that combined church tradition with the cultural heritage of the place. During the Divine Liturgy, the faithful had the opportunity to venerate the Holy Relic of Saint Seraphim, Bishop of Phanar, as a piece of his Holy Chariot is kept in the Holy Church as a memory of the Saint's miraculous epiphany in Stagiates.

In his sermon, His Holiness, interpreting the Gospel passage, emphasized that Christ is looking for "people with a heart" and not people who rest in self-sufficiency and hypocrisy, pointing out that "God does not stand on the external image, but sees the depth of the soul and the truth of our heart". He also emphasized that "Christ heals the body and the soul at the same time, because he knows the whole person", adding that "true healing begins with forgiveness and inner transformation". At the same time, he said that "faith is not words, but an act of love and trust in...

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Тарас Олійник

Thanks for the news. It is good that in Statiates they combined the Liturgy with the relics of St. Seraphim and this is the first "Antamoma sto Horio". I especially remembered how the bishop said that faith is not words, but a work of love. In Poltava Oblast, it is often repeated that the heart is more important than the outside.

Αντώνης Λαμπρόπουλος

This "Village Restoration" is a good idea. I liked that the Despot emphasized that faith is an act of love and not words, just as Taras from Poltava said. Here in Cyprus we say the same thing all the time, but we often forget it in everyday life.

Ilia Dhima

Good luck starting this «Adventure in the House» on the Stagiatas. I am left with what Δεσπότης said, that faith is not a word but an act of love, because I also see in the accounting office every day how easy it is to stick to words. The remains of Saint Seraph must have given special grace to the Liturgy.

Maria Nako

It's good that they started this «Adventure in the Country» on the Stagiatas. I liked that Δεσπότης said that faith is not a word but an act of love, because I am also in my periβolī every morning when I water the flowers. The relic of Saint Seraph that is kept there is a great blessing for the village.