Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis today received the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos, at his residence, Villa Maximos.
In a brief discussion held in front of television cameras, Mitsotakis referred to the recent loss of the Archbishop of Albania, who died on Saturday.
"These are difficult days for Orthodoxy as a whole. I believe that we have all been touched by the loss of the Archbishop of Albania. I was fortunate to know him personally. He was truly a great man, who managed to do an unparalleled job in Albania, rebuilding a destroyed church, but above all he was a man of God who cared about people. For this reason, I will have the opportunity, we will all be together at his funeral in Tirana to honor him, as he deserves," said the Prime Minister.
"He was truly one of the chosen few. I met him and have been with him since high school. May God grant him rest. Thank you for being part of our mourning and our bitter loss, but these things are only human.... Today we have come to greet you, to meet you personally and to talk about our affairs, about your issues, about the issues of our time," the Archbishop replied.
According to government sources, the prime minister and the archbishop discussed current issues related to church-state relations, especially social issues in the context of deepening mutual support between the two institutions.