Source: Greek City Times
A Turkish citizen, who had been baptized Christian Orthodox, caught the Holy Cross in the waters of the Horned Gulf in Istanbul in a moving ceremony presided by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Bless the Waters of Fanari on the day of the Epiphany.
“I am very happy”, he said in Greek, sending his wishes for a Happy New Year.
Replying in Turkish to questions posed by OPEN News correspondent Maria Zacharaki about how he made this decision to become an Orthodox Christian, he said, “I felt this faith closer to me. I decided to choose this religion because it is consistent with this place and because this faith has a very deep-rooted history. The soil here is intertwined with Christianity."
![[Turkish Defense Ministry via AP]](assets/modules/wnp/articles/202411/22073/images/s_turkey_warship.jpg)
