LORETO (AN) – On 26 October, one of the most significant spiritual events took place: the solemn visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, to the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto.
Attending this historic event, gathered around the Pontifical Delegate, His Excellency the Most Reverend Monsignor Fabio Dal Cin, was a distinguished delegation of Dames and Knights from the Marche and Umbria Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, led by the Delegate for Marche and Umbria, Noble Consul Doctor Claudio Marciano di Scala, accompanied by the Deputy Delegate for Marche, Noble Count Stefano Tuzi Gallo.
Warmly welcomed at the entrance to the Basilica with the kissing of the crucifix, Patriarch Bartholomew I was then accompanied inside the Holy House to venerate its historic stones. On this occasion, he shared words of profound spiritual emotion, emphasising that “in this Holy House, in the embrace of the Mother, every distance dissolves, and we experience the gentle truth that we are all brothers in Christ, united by the same faith received from the Apostles”.
During the solemn ceremony, which opened with the singing of the ancient Akathist Hymn — the celebrated hymn of supplication and praise to the Mother of God, traditionally sung standing as a sign of veneration — the Pontifical Delegate, Monsignor Fabio Dal Cin, conveyed the greetings and blessing of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, highlighting the universal significance of the Holy House as a “spiritual bridge between East and West”.
A moment of the highest significance was the meeting during which our Delegate personally placed into the hands of His All-Holiness Bartholomew I an official message on behalf of the Delegation. In the message, the Order expressed its respectful greetings and profound gratitude to the Patriarch, recalling the shared historical roots linking the Order — through the figure of Constantine the Great, the Edict of Milan and the Council of Nicaea — to the Eastern tradition and the Rule of Saint Basil.
The message also reaffirmed the Order’s enduring commitment to charitable works and to supporting Christians who suffer in both the East and the West, invoking the intercession of the Mother of God so that all Christians may be one.
The day culminated in the blessing of the new Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary.
. The work, inspired by the ancient image preserved in the Shrine until the 15th century and subsequently lost,
was painted in Thessaloniki by the hand of Ioakeim, using the traditional technique of egg tempera
and burnished gold leaf on a wooden panel.
The icon depicts the Mother of God (Meter Theou) with her hands raised in prayer
and Christ Emmanuel within the medallion on her chest. It is adorned with the divine monograms (Ho On),
the sacred inscriptions “Hic Verbum caro factum est” and the three stars symbolising Mary’s perpetual virginity.
Placed near the site of the ancient altar, thanks to the installation of the new permanent ambo
in the Basilica, the icon stands as a powerful and visible sign of ecclesial communion.
