D. KOURKOULAS: I briefed His Beatitude on the preparations for and priorities of the upcoming Greek EU Presidency, which is an opportunity for Greece to return to the core of European developments.
Mainly, however, we discussed – and I listened with great care to everything he said to me – the very important activities of the Church in the philanthropic sector and the sector of confronting the social crisis.
I offered to His Beatitude the technical assistance, as it were, of the Foreign Ministry, so that this charitable work can become more established and even expand.
JOURNALIST: Something more specific regarding the technical assistance?
D. KOURKOULAS: Jointly, I promised His Beatitude that we will exhaust every potential for absorption of social funding for the support of the very important work being carried out at the Archdiocese of Athens, as well as throughout Greece, by all the Metropolises of the Church of Greece.
JOURNALIST: Is there anything new on the fate of the two Bishops in Syria?
D. KOURKOULAS: Unfortunately, the situation in Syria is such that we don’t have anything positive regarding the fate of the two Bishops. We will continue – on the European level, as well – to underscore the need to take measures for the protection of the minorities in Syria, and particularly the Greek Orthodox minority of the Patriarchate of Antioch, which is an historic Patriarchate. This is a matter for which, unfortunately, the international community has yet to find a solution, and the humanitarian tragedy of all the citizens of Syria, and the Orthodox in particular, is escalating and deepening.
ARCHBISHOP HIERONYMOS: I, too, would like to express my pleasure today, a special pleasure, at meeting with the Deputy Minister, and it gave us the opportunity to talk about issues of preparation for the Greek EU Presidency, and through these thoughts we got onto the work being carried out in Greece today. Needs are arising every day, increasing, lending a multifaceted dimension to the problems.
But the discussion focused mainly on programming, the best that we could do – and it is pleasing that the Deputy Minister is thoroughly aware of these issues – as well as issues of how we can find ways to collaborate and end the travails of our people.
I would like to express to him my heartfelt thanks and the hope that this love and willingness toward the Greek people bear fruit in these difficult hours.
JOURNALIST: Thank you.
D. KOURKOULAS: And we thank you.
July 15, 2013