Aitolias Damaskenos: "Asia lives in our hearts – We will never allow its memory to be lost"translated

At the Holy Church of Saints Constantine and Helen Agriniou, the hierarch celebrated the Vespers service and presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on Saturday preceding the Exaltation of the Cross, September 13, 2026, Metropolitan Aitolias and Acarnanias Damaskenos. On this day, our Church honors the memory of the Holy Martyrs of the Asian Catastrophe, Chrysostom Bishop of Smyrna, and those with him who were exiled, clerics and laity.

Preaching the holy Gospel, the Most Reverend said: "Great is the mystery of the Cross, which we celebrate tomorrow! Its spiritual depth is inaccessible to human reason. The theological dimensions exceed every measure of this world. Its message calls the human mind to be transcended by the earthly and to turn toward the heavenly, seeking the Triune God of infinite philanthropy.

What words can describe the divine economy? The All-High, the Inhabiter of the utterly superabundant height of absolutely surpassing Divinity, descends to the depths of human tragedy, becomes a man, bears all the consequences of human failure and is exalted again. Not, however,...