To be here at the Saint Photios National Shrine, during these days when we celebrate Τὰ Ἅγια Φῶτα, is a very special joy for me. This Vespers in the Shrine’s Chapel, when we sing the wondrous hymn, “O Gladsome Light,” manifests the mission of the Shrine for all the world to see. Saint Photios is all about bringing the light of Christ into the world, so that every person who passes through its doors witnesses the illumination of our Orthodox Christian Faith. To be here at the Saint Photios National Shrine, during these days when we celebrate Τὰ Ἅγια Φῶτα, is a very special joy for me. This Vespers in the Shrine’s Chapel, when we sing the wondrous hymn,.
Commemorating the Fall of Constantinople
In conjunction with the annual commemoration of the Fall of Constantinople, the Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine is proud to announce its inaugural Drawing Competition open to children ages 9-12 of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
The annual commemoration of the Fall of Constantinople is not only a remembrance of the fall of the capital of the Roman Empire on May 29, 1453 by the Ottomans who finally took the “Queen of Cities” established by Saint Constantine the Great some eleven centuries earlier; rather, it is also a celebration of Byzantine culture and the Hellenic culture that sprang from this pivotal event in world history.