Patriarchal blessing for all victims
Following yesterday’s service at the Patriarchal Church of Aghios Giorgios, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios gave his blessing to the souls of the victims of terrorism in the USA and elsewhere. We pray that God will allow people of all nations to live in peace and perfect harmony, said Vartholomaios, who gave the faithful a traditional gift of fragrant basil to bless and strengthen them. The aroma of basil is to dispel the dark cloud of terrorism. The Athens benchmark index lost 5.38 percent to 2,248.39 points. For the week it gave up 15 percent or 399 points. Since Tuesday’s terrorist attack, it has lost 12 percent. It is an overreaction, but investors are fearing Monday’s US open and discounting it opening lower, said head analyst at Kappa Securities Nikos Galoussis. Banks and telecom stocks lost 4.92 percent and 4.22 percent respectively. The Athens bourse’s FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips fell 4.86 percent to 1,268.79 points. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps lost 8.26 percent while small-caps dropped 8.81 percent.
