Metropolitan Nectarius of Kerkyra, Paxia and Diapontia shared his thoughts and impressions after visiting Russia at the head of a delegation that brought the right hand of St. Spyridon of Trimifunt to the faithful for worship.
In a material published by the Romfea agency, he said that the trip and the worship of the shrine were undertaken at the invitation of the Russian Orthodox Church with the blessing and approval of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and the relevant documents were signed by its chairman, His Beatitude Archbishop Hieronymus of Athens and All Greece. The hierarch pointed out that this visit is a continuation of similar trips made in the past to the United States of America (in 2017), Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Georgia and other countries, as well as to the metropolia of the Greek Orthodox Church. "All these trips were made at the invitation of the relevant church authorities, with the consent, blessing and written permission of the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church," he stated.
"As during the current holy pilgrimage in the Russian Church, and in all other cases, the sole purpose of bringing the right hand of St. Spyridon is so that Orthodox Christians around the world, unable to come to Kerkyra, could receive the blessing of the saint, strengthen their faith and gain strength for their spiritual struggle in the era of secularization, desacralization, changes in values and a general confusion of concepts are phenomena that we are experiencing in our homeland," said Bishop Nektary.
Sharing his impressions of the trip, he noted: "The paintings that we saw everywhere we went, including during our trip to Russia, were and still are extremely touching and hopeful. Saint Spyridon is an ecumenical saint of simplicity, humility, and love for God and man. He is a saint who reminds us of the importance of the Divine Liturgy and prayer, as well as the immutability of faith, since he defended our holy dogmas at the First Ecumenical Council, which marked 1,600 years ago. We live by the blessing of the saint and constantly look forward to the experience of the Resurrection, which is carried by his incorruptible body, which resides in the cathedral city of our Holy Metropolis — on Kerkyra. Seeing with my own eyes the love, piety, reverence and faith of people during the pilgrimages made so far with the right hand of our saint, I thought again that, ultimately, this was God's will: that people around the world could receive God's grace through the worship of even this small part of the holy relics. the prayers of the saint... What we have experienced these days in Russia has really exceeded all expectations. Thousands of people, with incredible patience by human standards, observing the order and the queue, waited for hours everywhere, wherever we went, for the opportunity to worship the holy relics and receive the blessing of the saint."
"We exclaimed and continue to exclaim, 'As the Lord God lives!' We were happy! We were deeply touched!  The hierarch continued. — We do not believe that these people should have lost the blessing of the saint for reasons not related to religious faith, but having a geopolitical character. We hope and pray that these reasons will disappear someday. The blessing of the saint is above all temporal and transitory things."
Metropolitan Nectarius of Kerkyra also touched upon his participation in the Divine Liturgy, which was led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, recalling that the Greek Orthodox Church, to which he belongs, has not severed communion with the Russian Orthodox Church (therefore, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece allowed this pilgrimage).
"We are not authorized to resolve the existing differences and do not consider them a sufficient reason to deprive the people of the opportunity to worship St. Spyridon," he stated. "We pray 'for the union of all' and 'for the peace of the whole world,' and these days we have felt that there is hope and an opportunity, relying on the love and prayerful intercession of our saints, to overcome existing differences and differences in approaches together," said His Eminence. — Sometimes they are expressed in actions that no one would like to see, but this has happened throughout the centuries-old history of the Church. The presence of the saint is a sign for us that, regardless of existing differences, we are all Orthodox and rightly rule by the word of Truth, which is our common faith in the Triune God and our life in the one, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church."
"We thank the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church, our superior ecclesiastical authority, for granting us canonical permission and blessing to share the great gift that God allowed us to have on Kerkyra, our Saint Spyridon, with such a pious people as the Russian people, with whom we are bound by centuries—old ties. Their origin dates back to the time when the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Byzantine empire brought the Christian faith to Kiev in the year of Our Lord 988," said Metropolitan Nectarius of Kerkyra, Paxia and Diapontia Islands. He stated: "These ties between our peoples, based on the Orthodox faith and a common Orthodox identity, cannot be crossed out for geopolitical reasons that will not last forever. The Church has been, is, and will remain the foundation of our common path and unity."