Photos: Vasiliki Chairoulou, Panagiota Giannouli

On January 17 and 18, 2026, the city of Istiaia in northern Evia, the second seat of the Holy Metropolis of Chalkida, celebrated its patron saint, Saint Athanasios, at the homonymous, historic and magnificent Parish Holy Church of Istiaia.

Participating in this year’s sacred feast were His Eminence Metropolitan Antonios of Glyfada, Elliniko, Voula, Vouliagmeni and Vari, His Grace Bishop Nikodimos of Skopelos, and our Shepherd, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Chalkida.

At the festal Vespers, His Eminence Mr. Antonios presided, while His Grace Mr. Nikodimos delivered the sermon, noting that the Church, with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, does not present the saints for us to admire from a distance as historical monuments of moral greatness, but so that we may stand before them as mirrors of self-knowledge. The saints do not soothe us; they examine us. And this examination is not condemnation, but an invitation to repentance.

Great Athanasios stood against Arius not merely as a theologian defending a doctrine, but as a man defending the very truth of Christ. Arius did not err out of ignorance; he knew, yet did not obey. His error was born not in the mind but in the heart. It was not the product of mistaken thought, but of pride and self-love.

Thus it becomes evident that heresy is not merely an intellectual mistake, but a spiritual illness: a refusal of humility and obedience to the revealed truth.

Athanasios did not struggle for his own vindication, nor for personal promotion or legacy. He struggled for Christ, for the truth of the Incarnation, for the saving “homoousios” which ensures that God truly became man so that man might be saved. For this reason he found himself “against the world,” not out of stubbornness, harshness or fanaticism, but out of love for the truth and pastoral responsibility toward the fullness of the Church.

His resistance was not rebellion, but witness. It was not arrogance, but cruciform patience. Persecuted, slandered, exiled repeatedly, he remained unshaken not because he had a strong character, but because he had conquered his inner self. He became Great not because he defeated Arius, but because he defeated himself: his passions, his fear, his need for acceptance.

Thus Saint Athanasios stands before us not merely as a defender of Orthodoxy, but as a model of freedom. Freedom from the world, from the opinion of the many, from one’s own self. And he silently calls us to ask ourselves: when we know the truth, do we follow it? Or, like Arius, do we subject it to our egoism?

Saint Athanasios, knowing the truth, stood against the world so that the world might remain within the truth.

On the principal feast day, His Eminence Mr. Antonios presided at the Matins service, led the Hierarchical Concelebration and preached the divine word, describing the personality of Saint Athanasios as a worker of truth and cultivated theologian, who drew an example of holiness from his sanctified associations, such as the holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, Great Anthony, Saint Alexander of Alexandria, Saint Niphon of Constantiane and others.

Through his associations as well, Saint Athanasios stood against the world, which insists on dialoguing with sin, showing every faithful person the right path of sanctification.

Immediately after the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence Mr. Chrysostomos, after thanking the holy Hierarchs, the other Clergy, the present elected officials, the heads of the Security Forces, representatives of local institutions, the delegations of the city’s Schools and the devout Christians of Istiaia who attended, referred to the twenty-year course of the branch of the School of Byzantine Music of the Holy Metropolis of Chalkida in Istiaia, and His Eminence Mr. Antonios awarded diplomas to seven new graduates of the branch.

Afterwards, the Hierarchs visited the nearby Vissarioneio Ecclesiastical Nursing Home, where, in the presence of the local authorities’ representatives, they blessed the Vasilopita of the Institution.