With reverence and spiritual emotion, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated today at the festal Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, located within the historic grounds of the Greek Orthodox Cemetery of Şişli, where generations of Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox community have been laid to rest.

The Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Grace Bishop Benjamin of Tralleis, assisted by clergy of the Great Community of Stavrodromi. His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch was represented from the parathronion by Archimandrite Fr. Gideon, while His Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Saranta Ekklisies, Hierarchical Head of the Great Community of Stavrodromi, prayerfully attended within the Holy Altar.

The church and the Şişli Cemetery constitute invaluable monuments to the history of the Greek Orthodox community of Istanbul. The cemetery was established in 1859, while the monumental church that dominates the grounds was erected in the late 19th century through a donation by the Skylitsis family and ranks among the most significant ecclesiastical and architectural monuments of the Greek Orthodox heritage in Istanbul.

May the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul intercede for us all, and may the memory of our departed brothers and sisters remain eternal and blessed.