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At the Sacred Church of Saint Basil in Piraeus, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated on Sunday, March 8, 2026 — the Second Sunday of the Fast — by His Eminence Seraphim Mentzelopoulos, Metropolitan of Piraeus, honoring the feast of our Father among the Saints Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, and the God-bearing Fathers of the Holy Ninth Ecumenical Synod.
During his sermon, His Eminence, referring to the period of Great Lent, when the Church commemorates Saint Gregory Palamas and the Fathers of the Synod of 1351, who struggled to defend the Orthodox faith against heresies, emphasized that this day is a continuation of the joy of the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
“We have a new ‘Sunday of Orthodoxy’ today, honoring the Holy Ninth Ecumenical Synod and the God-bearing Ecumenical Teacher Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, who took the lead and was the mentor and guide of this sacred synod of our Holy Church,” said His Eminence.
He then stressed that the Fathers of the Church taught that God is infinite, incomprehensible, and beyond human knowledge, noting at the same time that although the essence of God cannot be known, man can partake of His uncreated energies and divine grace, which sanctify, illumine, and strengthen man.
This Synod proclaimed as dogma “the truth concerning the All-Holy God, the knowledge of the divine reality,” namely that “the All-Holy God, the Creator of all things, is beyond and outside our object of knowledge and beyond our cognitive ability. He is the Incomprehensible, Invisible, Eternal One Who Is. He is the One who creates all things out of infinite love, infinite wisdom, infinite tenderness, and compassionate mercy,” he emphasized, continuing:
“He is the eternal and uncreated Creator of life.”
“The God-bearing Fathers, through the Holy Spirit, granted us the knowledge that the essence of God is incommunicable. No one can approach the mystery of the All-Holy God, Who lies beyond our capacity of knowledge. But what we can understand, what we can partake of, what we can appropriate, are the uncreated divine energies of the All-Holy God.
“It is Grace that sanctifies us, heals us, blesses us, illumines us, strengthens us, and fills us with grace.”
“Divine grace is what transformed the bread and the wine upon the Holy Table into the Body and Blood of the Lord of Glory,” His Eminence added.
“The grace of God is what sanctifies human beings,” but “this divine grace presupposes purification from the passions.”
“Great Lent is this very important way of purification — the casting away of small or great transgressions, a deep descent into the depths of our existence in order to understand our problem and offer it to God so that He may heal it,” said His Eminence in another part of his sermon, wishing to speak about “the great mystery of repentance which has neither end nor limit.”
“Every hour, every moment, even with the simple prayer ‘O God, be merciful to me,’ we once again enjoy our former beauty — our beauty, our purity, our virginity, our holiness,” he noted characteristically, emphasizing at the same time that “the ocean of His love is boundless.”
“It is precisely this endless ocean of His compassion that our Holy Church grants us through her God-bearing Mysteries and shows us clearly that Divine Grace — the uncreated divine energy — saves and sanctifies us, provided that we ourselves desire it.”
“If we had spiritual eyes and saw things spiritually, we would be happy, and no sorrow, no pain, no difficulty could strike or harm our life,” said Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, once again emphasizing that “no one knows His essence, not even the Holy Angels.”
“His energies, however, are understandable and perceptible to all of us and, if we wish, they can become completely ours. It is enough that our heart, our soul, and our receptivity be purified.”
“The grace of God is an unceasing rain of love,” he added.
Referring again to the Holy Ninth Ecumenical Synod, he noted that in that era “Orthodoxy triumphed, the truth of God triumphed, and the God-bearing Ecumenical Teacher Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, triumphed.”
Concluding, he prayed that Great Lent, with the gifts of fasting, repentance, prayer, compunction, self-reproach, and forgiveness — which we must ask from one another and all together from the All-Holy God — may grant us the possibility of receiving Divine Grace.
To commemorate the Ninth Ecumenical Synod, His Eminence wore vestments of the Holy Fathers who attended the Synod, and served the Divine Liturgy on an antimension bearing the same image.
(See more photos here)
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
During his sermon, His Eminence, referring to the period of Great Lent, when the Church commemorates Saint Gregory Palamas and the Fathers of the Synod of 1351, who struggled to defend the Orthodox faith against heresies, emphasized that this day is a continuation of the joy of the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
“We have a new ‘Sunday of Orthodoxy’ today, honoring the Holy Ninth Ecumenical Synod and the God-bearing Ecumenical Teacher Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, who took the lead and was the mentor and guide of this sacred synod of our Holy Church,” said His Eminence.
He then stressed that the Fathers of the Church taught that God is infinite, incomprehensible, and beyond human knowledge, noting at the same time that although the essence of God cannot be known, man can partake of His uncreated energies and divine grace, which sanctify, illumine, and strengthen man.
This Synod proclaimed as dogma “the truth concerning the All-Holy God, the knowledge of the divine reality,” namely that “the All-Holy God, the Creator of all things, is beyond and outside our object of knowledge and beyond our cognitive ability. He is the Incomprehensible, Invisible, Eternal One Who Is. He is the One who creates all things out of infinite love, infinite wisdom, infinite tenderness, and compassionate mercy,” he emphasized, continuing:
“He is the eternal and uncreated Creator of life.”
“The God-bearing Fathers, through the Holy Spirit, granted us the knowledge that the essence of God is incommunicable. No one can approach the mystery of the All-Holy God, Who lies beyond our capacity of knowledge. But what we can understand, what we can partake of, what we can appropriate, are the uncreated divine energies of the All-Holy God.
“It is Grace that sanctifies us, heals us, blesses us, illumines us, strengthens us, and fills us with grace.”
“Divine grace is what transformed the bread and the wine upon the Holy Table into the Body and Blood of the Lord of Glory,” His Eminence added.
“The grace of God is what sanctifies human beings,” but “this divine grace presupposes purification from the passions.”
“Great Lent is this very important way of purification — the casting away of small or great transgressions, a deep descent into the depths of our existence in order to understand our problem and offer it to God so that He may heal it,” said His Eminence in another part of his sermon, wishing to speak about “the great mystery of repentance which has neither end nor limit.”
“Every hour, every moment, even with the simple prayer ‘O God, be merciful to me,’ we once again enjoy our former beauty — our beauty, our purity, our virginity, our holiness,” he noted characteristically, emphasizing at the same time that “the ocean of His love is boundless.”
“It is precisely this endless ocean of His compassion that our Holy Church grants us through her God-bearing Mysteries and shows us clearly that Divine Grace — the uncreated divine energy — saves and sanctifies us, provided that we ourselves desire it.”
“If we had spiritual eyes and saw things spiritually, we would be happy, and no sorrow, no pain, no difficulty could strike or harm our life,” said Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, once again emphasizing that “no one knows His essence, not even the Holy Angels.”
“His energies, however, are understandable and perceptible to all of us and, if we wish, they can become completely ours. It is enough that our heart, our soul, and our receptivity be purified.”
“The grace of God is an unceasing rain of love,” he added.
Referring again to the Holy Ninth Ecumenical Synod, he noted that in that era “Orthodoxy triumphed, the truth of God triumphed, and the God-bearing Ecumenical Teacher Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, triumphed.”
Concluding, he prayed that Great Lent, with the gifts of fasting, repentance, prayer, compunction, self-reproach, and forgiveness — which we must ask from one another and all together from the All-Holy God — may grant us the possibility of receiving Divine Grace.
To commemorate the Ninth Ecumenical Synod, His Eminence wore vestments of the Holy Fathers who attended the Synod, and served the Divine Liturgy on an antimension bearing the same image.
(See more photos here)
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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