Archbishop in visit to Jerusalem
The head of the Church of Greece was to fly late yesterday to Jerusalem for a two-day visit to show his support for the local Greek Orthodox patriarchate. In what his office called a visit of «love and support» for the patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archbishop Christodoulos will remain in Jerusalem until tomorrow morning. He is accompanied by four bishops and other Church officials, and is expected to give financial aid to the patriarchate. On Monday, Christodoulos expressed concern at reports of Israeli forces firing on the fourth-century Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in which sanctuary-seeking Palestinian militants and Christian monks have been besieged for over a week. «It is with great pain that we observe the events taking place in the Holy Land during the past few days,» he said in a letter to the Israeli ambassador in Athens, David Sasson. «The Orthodox Church attaches great significance to the granting of sanctuary,» he said. The 170-oar vessel cost 200 million drachmas (587,000 euros) to build in 1985-87.
