During two days, on 8-9 November 2025, the second Youth Conference of the Holy Metropolis of Pisidia took place in Side (Manavgat) on the theme “Christ as the way to authentic relationship”.
Approximately 100 participants from the entire Holy Metropolis of Pisidia, the Holy Archdiocese of Constantinople, as well as the Holy Metropolis of Kalamaria and Nea Krini, and three seminarians from the School of Apprenticeship for Clergy Candidates of the Rizareios Ecclesiastical School participated on the morning of Saturday, 8 November, in the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the church of the Holy Apostle Paul, with explanations, and then at breakfast they saw the preparation of prosphoras by Fr. Ivan Nichiporuk, under the presidency of His Eminence Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, who had invited as the keynote speaker in the afternoon the hieromonk Nikolai Sakharov from the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Essex, England, who analyzed the topic of conference.
At the beginning he developped the subject and then focused on the importance of the sacrament of marriage as the restoration of the image of God in the human being, who was created male and female. Then the participants discussed the topic in small groups and later in plenary. The first day concluded with the Sunday vespers and matins and then with a festive dinner.
The next day, the Sunday Divine Liturgy was presided by the local archpastor in concelebration with the local clergy of Antalya, Alanya and Side together with Hieromonk Nikolai Sakharov and Fr. Nikodimos Saydam from the parish of the Holy Trinity of Constantinople. On the same day, the ordination of Ilias Kryazh as reader took place. This was followed by breakfast with a musical performence by the children of the parish of Side and an iconography lesson presented by the student of the Athens School of Fine Arts, Mr. Ioakeim Koumousis.
The youth conference opened with the patriarchal message to the young participants and concluded with the visit of the archaeological site of Side, where Christianity was spread thanks to the preaching of the Holy Apostle Paul. The Conference ended there in a pleasant atmosphere. The young participants expressed the wish that the Holy Metropolis would organize other similar conferences in the future.
