On Wednesday, January 30th, 2019, feast day of the Holy Three Hierarchs, at the holy church of St. Paul the Apostle and St. Alypios, the presiding Priest of the church Fr. Michael, in an emotional atmosphere, said goodbye to his flock at the end of the divine Liturgy. The Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne, Michael Anishchenko, after his graduation from the School of Theology of the University of Athens, had been appointed as Rector of our renovated holy church in Attaleia (Antalya). He had worked with great zeal and dedication for eight years to meet the liturgical and spiritual needs of his multi-national flock. His multi-faceted education and his knowledge of not only his mother tongue, Ukrainian, but also Russian, as well as English, French and Turkish, was a great asset for to him to be able to communicate directly with every faithful person of his parish. He loved his flock and he was loved by his flock dearly.
His many qualifications led His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew to place Fr. Michael at the head of Ecumenical Patriarchal Monastery in Kiev, Ukraine.
Following Fr. Michael’s moving farewell speech, there were other speakers also: Fr. Constantine Siefchenko, presiding Priest of the holy church of Theotokos Pisidiotissa in Alanya; the she-President of the Russian Association of Antalya and a youth representative. At the end, the home Bishop offered heartfelt thanks to Fr. Michael for everything he had offered to our Church in Antalya all these years, wishing him to continue his ministry from his new position, with the same zeal, for the glory of God. The speakers offered Fr. Michael commemorative presents, while the Church Choir bid him farewell with seasonable hymns.
A farewell common lunch followed at the Diocesan Reception Hall.
