Finnish and Estonian clergy visit the Exarchate of Lithuania

A Divine Liturgy was celebrated on 17 September at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Trinapolis, Vilnius, led by the Exarch of Lithuania, Panaretos, and Archbishop Elia of Helsinki and All Finland. They were joined at the altar by clergy from Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and Ukraine.

Also present in the church were Monsignor Laurentiu Dancuta, representing the Apostolic Nuncio; Auxiliary Bishop Arūnas Poniškaitis of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vilnius; Bishop Mindaugas Sabutis of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania; General Superintendent Raimondas Stankevičius of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania; and Artūras Gailiūnas, representing the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the close of the liturgy, Exarch Panaretos welcomed Archbishop Elia and his party. “There are moments in the life of an ecclesiastical community that need few words to reveal their true significance,” he began. “Today is one of those moments.”

Panaretos noted that the Exarchate is new in its present administrative form, but that its roots are old: “The bonds between this land and the Mother Church have a history extending over more than seven centuries.” The present…