The Athens University’s School of Theology this week welcomed freshmen for the new academic year.
A modest welcoming ceremony, symbolically called the “Rose Reception”, was dedicated to a condemnation of domestic violence.
Among others, the Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Prof. Meletios-Athanassios Dimopoulos, along with a representative of the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Archimandrite Fr. Varnavas Theoharis, were in attendance.
A common theme of speakers at the event revolved around the need to arouse public opinion against domestic violence, an ominous phenomenon that has attracted intense media and societal scrutiny over the recent period, a scourge that directly threatens society’s cohesion.
Each new student was presented with the New Testament, the Gospel of love, along with a red rose and the collective edition entitled “Women in the Shadow of Violence, Pastoral Responsibility and the Perspective of Religions”, a publication of an innovative program by the Archdiocese of Athens’ Institute of Youth and Family.