His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received in audience Mr Panagiotis Doudonis, Member of Parliament of PASOK.
Mr Doudonis attended the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Thomas at the Patriarchal Church and was subsequently received by His All-Holiness. In a social media post following the meeting, he wrote: “We are also neighbours—you from Lesvos, I from Imbros.” This was the greeting of the Ecumenical Patriarch, who was fully aware of the crisis our island is experiencing due to foot-and-mouth disease. A universal spiritual leader of incomparable radiance, with ecological sensitivities and a firm commitment to interreligious dialogue, who has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the dangers of authoritarianism and nationalism. It was a great honour for me to be received today at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. May we have his blessing.”
His All-Holiness also received the actor Dimitris Gkotsopoulos, who wrote about his meeting: “ ‘I greet the artist, Mr Gkotsopoulos,’ he said at the end of Vespers. A moment of deep emotion! Then followed a personal conversation in his office. It is both an honour and a joy to meet our Ecumenical Patriarch, the spiritual leader of Orthodoxy throughout the world. Some people do not merely speak about the light—they serve it.”
Additionally, the Ecumenical Patriarch received journalists Maria Zacharaki and Achilleas Roditis.
