During their working session last week, the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops in Spain and Portugal decided to add a new pan-Orthodox feast of the Synaxis of Iberian Saints to the liturgical calendars of the local Orthodox Churches.
The meeting that took place Friday, April 20, in Madrid, was attended by His Eminence Metropolitan Polycarp of Spain and Portugal (Ecumenical Patriarchate), His Grace Bishop Nestor of Korsun (Russian Orthodox Church), and His Grace Bishop Timothy of Spain and Portugal (Romanian Orthodox Church).
During the assembly’s session, the hierarchs approved the menologion, or collection of saints’ lives, of the saints who shone forth in the Iberian Peninsula in the pre-schism West, compiled by Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin.
As a result, the hierarchs decided to petition the primates of their Local Churches to establish a date for a pan-Orthodox veneration of the host of Iberian saints.
After the meeting, it was decided to celebrate the new feast on the Sunday before the National Day of Spain, which is celebrated annually on October 12.
Thus, the new feast of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Iberian Peninsula will be liturgically proclaimed and celebrated for the first time this year on October 7 in Madrid.
The celebration will be led by His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe.
The assembly also approved the text of a Spanish translation of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for use by the Orthodox faithful of the canonical jurisdictions represented in Spain.
At the end of the meeting, the bishops visited the construction site of the new Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Madrid.
Photography: mospat
