Archbishop Christodoulos enthroned

ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS ENTHRONEMENT

The newly-elected Primate of the Orthodox Church of Greece, His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, was enthroned on May 9, 1998, at the cathedral church of Athens.

The solemn ceremony was attended by Primates of Local Orthodox Churches, including His Beatitude Peter, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, His Beatitude Patriarch Teoctist of Rumania, His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasius of Tirana and All Albania, His Beatitude Dorotej, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, delegations from the Orthodox Churches of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Georgia, Serbia, Cyprus and Finland, as well as governmental officials and diplomats.

The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church was led by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, who brought to the newly-elected Primate of the Church of Greece a message of greetings from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

In the evening of the same day, a reception took place at the official residence of the Head of the Greek Orthodox Church at the Pendeli monastery. In his speech at the reception, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece expressed warm gratitude to the Primates and representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches and all those present for their fraternal congratulations and prayerful best wishes.