The former Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Elder Eirineos, will reportedly arrive in Athens on Thursday, where he will then be transported to the Archdiocese of Athens’ newly opened geriatric care center in Dilesi, north of the Greek capital, according to sources that spoke to the Orthodoxia news agency.
An intervention by Deputy Foreign Minister Antonis Diamantaris, who holds the expatriate Greeks’ portfolio, accelerated the process for issuing travel documents to the former Patriarch.
The new Church of Greece’s chief financial officer, Archimandrite Nikodimos Farmakis, will greet Eirineos at the Athens airport.
The former Patriarch will first be treated at a private Athens clinic before travelling to the Aghios Porfyrios elderly care center in coastal Dilesi.
According ot the same reports, all of the expenses for the former Patriarch’s medical care, transport and presence in Greece will be covered by the Archdiocese of Athens and the former ministry.