On Sunday, 15 October 2023, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew officiated at the Holy Cathedral of Saints Andrew the Apostle and Dimitrios the Great Martyr of Madrid, as part of his official visit to the headquarters of the Holy Metropolis of Spain and Portugal.
Source: Orthodox Times
Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Metropolitan Ierotheos of Lemnos and Agios Efstratios, as well as the local Shepherd, Metropolitan Bessarion of Spain and Portugal, clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Spain and Portugal, Princess Irene, the Ambassadors of Greece and Cyprus in Spain, as well as the Ambassador of Cyprus in Portugal, the Consul General of Ukraine in Madrid, and a number of faithful of Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Serbian origin were also present during the Divine Liturgy. The Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican in Spain was also present.
Addressing the faithful of Ukrainian origin, he expressed his support for the ordeal that the Ukrainian people are going through because of the war, and repeated that the Ecumenical Patriarchate condemned the war from the first moment as unacceptable and diabolical.
After the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Bessarion of Spain and Portugal welcomed the Ecumenical Patriarch with warm words of filial love and respect, expressing the joy of his flock and pointing out that this first visit of an Ecumenical Patriarch to Spain is indeed a historic event. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Holy Metropolis and the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral, Metropolitan Bessarion honoured the Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Very Rev. Fr Dimitrios Tsaparlis and his wife, the former Chanter of the Cathedral, Mr. Nikolaos Polyziadis, as well as the daughters of the late Archon Georgios Orphanidis, for their ministry and overall contribution.