By the Metropolitan of Leros, Kalymnos and Astypalaia, Metropolitan Paisios
“Blessed is the path on which you walk today, for a place of rest has been prepared for me.”
The Holy Metropolis, on the occasion of the departure to the Lord of the great benefactor of the noble and fruitful island of the Kalymnians, Yiannis Halikos, offers prayers and wishes, through my humility and its devout clergy, that the compassionate Lord — the Life and the Resurrection, Jesus Christ — may receive his blessed soul into the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, where the Light of the Triune Godhead shines.
The pure and noble soul of our beloved brother Yiannis Halikos, a son of a devout and large Kalymnian family, was nurtured in the springs of faith and love in Christ. These became the spiritual foundation for the course of his life.
He departed from his paternal home and journeyed to a distant land — the hospitable Darwin, Australia — armed only with his reference to Christ. Praying and speaking from the depths of his youthful soul, he would say:
“Lord, teach me to live before You humbly and worthily. You know who I am. You knew me before the world was created and before I came into this world.”
And the Good God, the Giver of every good gift, granted him abundantly all His blessings according to his heart. Making good and philanthropic use of these gifts, always with humility and in accordance with the Gospel teaching:
“Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
This was — and will forever remain — the ever-memorable Yiannis Halikos, the Great Benefactor of our island, who everywhere and always left the mark of his philanthropy.
May his memory be eternal.
+The Metropolitan Paisios
+Metropolitan of Leros, Kalymnos and Astypalaia
