The official six-day visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Athens has begun. It is carried out at the invitation of St. Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church, and the occasion is the celebrations organized in Greece for the 30th anniversary of the enthronement of the patriarch.
At the airport in Athens, Patr. Bartholomew was welcomed by the Metropolitan of Samos Eusebius on behalf of St. Synod of the Greek Church, as well as by the Minister of War N. Panayotopoulos on behalf of the Greek Government. He was also greeted by the Mesogeian miter. Nicholas, in whose diocese is the airport, from the Adrianople (Edirne) miter. Amphilochius, head of the representation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Athens, as well as the Secretary General of St. Synod of the Greek Church Bishop Philoteus of Ore.
The program of the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch envisages, above all, a hierarch’s Holy Liturgy tomorrow, on the feast of the Introduction of the Mother of God, in the cathedral of Athens “St. Annunciation.
Today, the Patriarch will visit the Archbishop of Athens Jerome, will meet with the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Assembly and other politicians and public figures. In the evening he will attend the evening service in the convent “Ascension” of the Athos monastery “Simonopetra” in Athens’ “Virona”.
His program includes a visit to the Mariana Vardinoyani – Nadezhda Children’s Oncology Center, the Gulandri Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Theological Faculty of the Kapodistrian University of Athens, which organizes an event in his honor, and others.
St. The Synod of the Greek Church also shed light on the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Athens, which will take place from December 4th to 6th.
The Archbishop of Athens. Jerome announces that according to the decision of St. Synod of November 3, the visit of Pope Francis to Athens will take place in a strictly protocol spirit, without official reception and events, without joint prayers and religious rites.
Pope Francis will be welcomed at the Archdiocese of Athens on December 4, according to the protocol for official visits by the archbishop. Jerome, without the participation of other bishops.
Pope Francis will visit Cyprus and Greece from December 2nd to 6th. In both countries it will be accepted by their presidents. There will be meetings with the heads of the Cypriot and Athenian archdioceses. His program includes a meeting with Christian Catholics in the Roman Catholic Cathedral “St. Dionysius the Areopagite ”in Athens. On Sunday morning, the pope will travel to the island of Lesbos (Mytilene), where he will visit the refugee center, deliver a speech and offer a prayer. Sunday Mass will be celebrated in the afternoon in Athens, in the hall of Megaro Musikis. On Sunday evening, the Archbishop of Athens will visit the Pope and the Vatican delegation at the Capuchin Franciscan Apostolic Monastery in Athens.
