Greece introduced new restrictions obliging churchgoers to present negative COVID-19 tests to attend services on Sunday following a surge in infections in recent weeks.
RELIGION
![A migrant walks near Pournara migrant reception center in Kokkinotrimithia, as a giant Turkish Cypriot breakaway flag, right, and Turkish flags painted on a mountain are seen in the background in the Turkish occupied area of divided Cyprus, Nov. 25, 2021 [AP Photo/Petros Karadjias]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/1000_22-320x200.jpg)
Pope Francis is arranging to transfer a number of migrants to Italy from the east Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, where he is opening a three-day visit next week, a Cypriot government official said on Thursday.
![[Alexandros Beltes/AMNA]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Vartholomaios-ecumenical-patriarch-AMNA-320x200.jpg)
Visiting Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios was the honoree at an event held at the Athens Concert Hall on Wednesday that included addresses by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
![Father Pahomios, 88, from the Pantokratoros Monastery, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease, at the health centre of Karyes, the administrative centre of the all-male Orthodox monastic community of Mount Athos, November 16. [Alexandros Avramidis/Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/athos_reuters-320x200.jpg)
In the chapel of a monastery on Greece’s Mount Athos, Father Makarios read the gospel while conducting a liturgy as he waited for his anti-coronavirus vaccination.
It sounds like fiction but it isn’t. It includes a Greek “independent state” deep in Africa, a Greek “tribe” living in the vast forests, a Cretan revolutionary – dubbed “Jungle Zorbas” – and a Greek Orthodox cleric.
If there were any doubts previously, during the coronavirus pandemic they have been completely dispelled. The “faithful” are a special social group.
![[Defense Ministry]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/vartholomaios_athens-320x200.jpg)
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios arrived in Athens on Saturday afternoon for a five-day visit to Greece (Nov. 20-25).
![A butcher carries meat at Varvakeios meat market in Athens. A recent ruling by the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, could lead to a ban on halal and kosher slaughter as incompatible with animal welfare. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/varvakeios_AP-320x200.jpg)
Greece’s Muslim and Jewish communities cry foul as the country moves closer to prohibiting ritual slaughter.
![[AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/pope_AP-320x200.jpg)
Pope Francis renewed his call for Europe to welcome and show solidarity with migrants, saying the diversity they’re bringing to the continent is renewing European cities as a “beautiful mosaic, which should not be scarred or corrupted with prejudices or hatred.”
![[AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/elpidophoros_AP-320x200.jpg)
The Donald Trump presidency polarized the Greek diaspora in the United States, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America has said, however adding that the Greek Orthodox Church helped preserve the unity of the Greek-American community during that period.
Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou joins The Greek Current to discuss the main takeaways from Patriarch Vartholomaios’ trip to the US, the tensions between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Russia, and what steps the US can take to support the Patriarchate and advance religious freedom in Turkey.
![Joe Biden, then US vice president (l), and Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, are seen during a meeting at the Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, on December 3, 2011. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/vartholomaios_biden_AP_web-320x200.jpg)
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios celebrated two important milestones this year: 60 years in the priesthood and 30 years since he assumed the mantle of spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church.
![Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, kisses a wooden cross before throwing it into the water during a ceremony blessing the waters at the Golden Horn in Istanbul, on January 6, 2016. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/vartholomaios_AP_web-320x200.jpg)
“It’s well known that Athenagoras Spyrou was elected ecumenical patriarch in 1948 thanks largely to the influence of the United States. Then secretary of state George Marshall consulted the Greek-American businessman Spyros Skouras, and Skouras recommended Athenagoras, then archbishop of America. According to Skouras, “General Marshall, in his capacity as secretary of state, had no […]
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios will undergo an operation at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on Wednesday. The Patriarch will have stents placed following a myocardial scintigraphy examination earlier the same day.
![[SOOC]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Vartholomeos_SOOC-1-320x200.jpg)
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios will be admitted to the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York to undergo an examination on Wednesday, delaying his departure from the United States. Doctors will determine if the Patriarch requires angioplasty and stent placements.
The Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center in New York City marked its door-opening ceremony (Thyranoixia) Tuesday, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios.
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