The Committee established at the initiative of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Church of Crete to undertake initiatives for the effective response to the phenomena of violence and delinquent behaviour in contemporary Cretan society met on Tuesday, 30 June, at the headquarters of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete in Heraklion.
According to the official communiqué, those participating in the meeting included, in addition to His Eminence Archbishop Evgenios of Crete, President of the Holy Eparchial Synod: (a) the Synodal Committee, consisting of Their Eminences Metropolitan Amphilochios of Kissamos and Selino, as Chairman, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Ierapytna and Siteia and Metropolitan Prodromos of Rethymno and Avlopotamos as members, together with the Very Rev. Archimandrite Niphon Vasilakis, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod, serving as Secretary; and (b) representatives of regional institutions, namely Mr Stavros Arnaoutakis, Regional Governor of Crete; the Mayors of Minoa Pediada, Mr Vasileios Kegeroglou, of Viannos, Mr Pavlos Baritakis, and of Malevizi, Mr Menelaos Bokeas, representing the President of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Crete; Deputy Police Director Emmanuel Theodosoulis, representing the General Regional Police Director of Crete; while the Rector of the Hellenic Mediterranean University and the Regional Director of Education for Crete were represented respectively by Mr Athanasios Malamos, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, and Ms Maria Kadianaki, Regional Supervisor for Educational Quality in Crete.
During the meeting, “all participants expressed their concern regarding the disturbing developments taking place in contemporary society and proposed the implementation of specific initiatives, including the joint organisation by all participating bodies of a conference on the issue, the appropriate support and guidance of young people and their parents, and the promotion of public awareness and education by every available means, with the aim of limiting, if not eliminating, the phenomena of delinquency and violence.”