Joint statements of Foreign Minister Kotzias and Archbishop Demetrios of America, following their meeting in New York City (24 April 2015)

Below is the text of the joint statements made by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Archbishop Demetrios of America, following their meeting at the Archdiocese headquarters in New York City:

N. KOTZIAS: I, personally, and the whole Foreign Ministry delegation had the pleasure and honor of being received by His Eminence. We experienced moments of reality, joy of our souls and rebirth of our thoughts and minds. I cannot but thank him for this interesting and extremely useful, creative discussion full of graciousness and love. Thank you very much.

ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS OF AMERICA: I thank His Excellency Minister Kotzias and his fine entourage for the exceptional opportunity, honor and joy we felt for a real, human communication between Greek and Orthodox patriots. We had a very good exchange of views. Mr. Kotzias used in a very apt and beautiful manner the fundamental notions of Orthodoxy and Hellenism, but also the notion of spirituality as a central element in people’s lives, in the life of societies, and in the life of our homeland. I thank him and his entourage in particular for this wonderful opportunity we had to be all together. I would like to say that it is significant when representatives of our homeland – which is going through difficult times – have such an ability to communicate, with smiling faces, showing that hope is never gone, there is never an impasse, there is always a solution. That is why we smile whatever happens; tomorrow belongs to us.