Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

As part of the traditional exchange of delegations for the respective feasts of the patron saints — on 29 June in Rome for the celebration of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and on 30 November in Istanbul for the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle — a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate visited Rome from 28 to 30 June. The delegation, led by His Eminence Emmanuel Adamakis, Metropolitan of Chalcedon, also included Fathers Aetios (Nikiforos) and Ieronymos (Sotirelis).

On Monday 29 June, the delegation from the Patriarchate attended the solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Holy Father.

On Tuesday 30 June, the representatives of the Patriarchate were received in audience by Pope Leo XIV. Following the reading of a message [IT] from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, delivered by Metropolitan Emmanuel, the Holy Father recalled in his address his participation in 2025 in the Feast of Saint Andrew, at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George at the Phanar, as weel as the commemoration of the 1700^th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, held on the eve of the Feast of Saint Andrew in İznik.

That commemorative event “made clear that the Nicene Creed must be the foundation and guiding principle of this ecumenical journey, offering the model of true unity within legitimate diversity: Unity in the Trinity, Trinity in Unity”, stated Pope Leo XIV, who expressed the hope that “the journey towards the celebration of the second millennium of the Redemption, in 2033, [may] be undertaken together by all the Christian denominations of the world, rediscovering the gift and the call to be witnesses to the Risen One”.

^{Foto © Vatican Media}