His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa paid visits to the Cypiot and Egyptian Embassies as well as the Greek Ambassadorial Residence on the 19th May 2008.
His Beatitude was made warmly welcome at the Cypriot Embassy by the High Commissioner of Cyprus, His Excellency Mr. Argyros Antoniou and the entire diplomatic staff.
During this meeting, His Beatitude thanked His Excellency the President of Cyprus, Mr Dimitri Christofias through Mr Antoniou, as well as His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II for the welcome he received during his recent visit to Cyprus . He also emphasized that the Church of St Mark will assist the efforts of Cyprus to gain a just solution to its ethnic problem.
His Excellency the High Commissioner expressed clearly that Cyprus would always support the missionary efforts of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
His Beatitude then went on to meet with the Ambassador of Egypt Mrs. Mona Omar, and spoke with her about the multifaceted missionary work of the Patriarchate and expressed his great joy for the support given by Egypt and its Leader President Hosni Mubarak. He invited Mrs Omar to visit the Patriarchal See in the Great City of Alexandria as soon as possible.
The official programme of the day continued with the official lunch which was hosted by His Excellency the Ambassador of Greece Mr. Aristeidis Sandis, which was also attended by the Ambassadors of Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania.
His Beatitude was accompanied to this lunch by His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Johannesburg and Pretoria and an honoured guest was His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Paul of Memphis.
Welcoming His Beatitude, the Greek Ambassador called the Alexandrian Church the light which illumines all of Africa . His Beatitude spoke on the significance both of the missions as well as of the co-operation of Orthodox countries on issues regarding the preservation of human rights and the peaceful co-existence of countries.
On the evening of the same day, the Venerable Primate of the Alexandrian Church visited the local Greek radio, “New Pan-Hellenic Voice” which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. He gave an interview, speaking of the missionary work of the Alexandrian Church, Greeks living abroad and the Greek Community in South Africa .
