Lycée Léonin

During the stay in Istanbul of a group of students and teachers of our school, under the responsibility of Bro. Ignace, part of a student exchange program with the establishment Franco-Turkish Saint Benoît (origin of the first Brothers arrived in Greece 1907), we had the opportunity and luck to attend the ceremony Acathiste Hymne in Vlachernes Notre-Dame church.

At the end of the ceremony, Patriarch Bartholomew I, after having hosted a large number of pilgrims, among whom were several students from public and private institutions in Greece, talked, to our surprise, about our school and said the following:

"Dear brother Ignace, an especially welcome to the Lycée Léonin. Your presence here almost every year fill my heart with joy and excitement. We thank you. Thanks for always taking into account the demands of our Patriarchate to admit in our schools in Nea Smyrna and Patissia some poor children. Thanks for the love that you have for the children of the Orthodox Church by providing Christian values ​​that are common to the sisters churches, Orthodox and Catholic. I take this wonderful opportunity to express my happiness, overlooking my next meeting in May in Jerusalem with His Holiness Pope Francis, an official and historical meeting. This event will be recognized in the Christian world and not only in this world.
In fact we both want to give a testimony of brotherhood, peace, love, creative collaboration among people and to the peoples of the Holy Land who have walked the feet of our Lord.
Best wishes to all.
God be with you and Our Lady protect you. Amen. "

After the ceremony we had a little chat with the Ecumenical Patriarch and offered him a cross made by the painter Giagianos, ex-alumni of Lycée Léonin Patissia. 

During the ceremony Hymne Acathiste we experienced excitement moments and after the Patriarch's speech we are proud to belong to one of two Marist establishments in Greece, whose educational and ecumenical work is important.