On Sunday, 14 July 2024, the Holy Metropolis of Pisidia has celebrated the Synaxis of all Saints who have shone forth in Pisidia, Side and Antalya. This feast falls every year on the Sunday, closest to 16 July, when the Church celebrates the memory of the 15.000 holy martyrs of Pisidia.
In Antalya, the festive agrypnia and the Divine Liturgy were presided by the local archpastor, His Eminence Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, in concelebration with the clergy of Saint Alypios’ church. In his homily, the Metropolitan reminded that this amazing choir of saints was constituted by the divine seed of the Word of God, which the Holy Apostle of the Nations Paul sowed in the spiritual field of Pisidia and Pamphylia during his first apostolic journey. And he concluded:
“It is amazing what diversity we find in the lives of the saints who shone in the land of Pisidia and Pamphylia. But for the Church, encountering diversity is nothing new. The mystery of salvation is defined as the reconciliation of those who are divided by culture, race, nationality, social class. The Church is nothing but a gathering of those reconciled through the death and resurrection of Christ, through participation in the basic sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. All believers, in whatever condition they may be, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to become saints. God Himself calls us to this, saying: ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ (1 Pet. 1:16).”
