The Feast of the Holy Archangels and the Ordination of a New Deacon in Brussels

The Metropolis of Belgium solemnly celebrated the feast of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Archangels in Brussels, which bears their name, on Sunday, November 8, 2026.

Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium, Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, presided over the Matins and the festal Divine Liturgy with Bishop Dositheos, a hierarch of the Patriarchate of Georgia serving in Brussels, together with the clergy and deacons of the Metropolis.

The joy of this annual celebration was further heightened by the ordination to the Holy Diaconate of Konstantinos Garofallos, one of the Cathedral’s altar servers and Secretary of the Metropolis. Garofallos is married and resides in the Belgian capital.

Particular emotion was stirred by Metropolitan Athenagoras’ address, in which he emphasised that the newly ordained Deacon is a true son of the local Orthodox Church in Belgium. Of Greek descent, he was born and raised in Brussels and baptised in this very Metropolitan Cathedral, where today he received the first degree of the Holy Priesthood. He nurtured his ecclesiastical vocation through the parish life of the Cathedral and the activities of…