Through the prayers of their good and faithful shepherd...
the refugees overcame many difficulties, privations, and illnesses on their long march.
When an unknown, terrible epidemic attacked them on the road...
the holy bishop prayed fervently to the Greek Saint and Martyr Charalambos...
who appeared to him in a vision...
and assisted the people.
On the Russian coast of the Sea of Azov, where the Greeks settled...
the large and beautiful town of Marioupolis, now Mariupol, was founded...
dedicated to the Mother of God...
with 23 Greek villages in its environs.
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A new metropolis was created in Mariupol under the spiritual supervision of the venerable hierarch, who now belonged to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. The first concern of Metropolitan Ignatius was the constant spiritual guidance of his flock.
The difficulties and problems of the new location, and the constant attacks by the Turks in an effort to force them to return to the place they had abandoned, made the Greek refuges frightened and worried, so that they sometimes complained to the bishop about their numerous tribulations.
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The saintly bishop was neither deterred nor defeated.
But recalled the exodus of the Jews from their slavery in the land of Egypt...
and their continuous charges against Moses, their liberator and leader-in-chief, who had beheld God. The faithful servant of God Ignatius loved the Lord with all his heart, strength and mind, and so bore with his flock and recognized that they had lived a life of suffering, and that some of their travails were still continuing.
He used to say: “Through the Church and from the Church springs the blessing of Heaven and Its benefits are patently obvious in all human tasks and occupations”.
And so he dealt with everything with prayer...
patience and gentleness.
[bron]
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