Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister Antonis Diamataris, who is also responsible for ecclesiastical affairs, on Tuesday paid his first visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, Istanbul since assuming his duties at the ministry. He was received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
“We are very pleased to welcome you today at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We have old ties, an old friendship, sincere and genuine, and I am sure that in your new role you will always stand by our side, next to our Ecumenical Patriarchate, to the Mother Church,” Patriarch Bartholomew said.
“ You have undertaken expatriate Greeks as your ministerial remit,” Bartholomew continued, while noting that the Greeks in Istanbul are not expatriates but have been “endemic for centuries.” He wished Diamataris “strength, to inspire them, to support them, as they live in an alien environment, to empower them to keep up the traditions of our Orthodox Church.”
“I wish you all the good things of God, power, inspiration and good health and courage to travel and meet all these expatriate brothers,” Bartholomew said.
Diamataris expressed the respect of the Greek State and of himself personally to the Ecumenical Patriarch, and stressed the government’s keen interest in the centuries-old institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
- Source: ANA-MPA news