ΤΗΕ PATRIARCH MEETS THE GREEK DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN CAIRO

     In an especially warm atmosphere His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa  met with His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Mr. Petros Doukas, on 1st April 2008 at the Ambassadorial Residence in Cairo.

     The meeting was emotional, and in the presence of the Vice Chairman of the Hellenic Parliament Mr. Anastasios Nerantzis, and Parliamentarian Mr. Christos Verelis as well as the 150 businessmen who were part of a large Greek business group in Egypt.

     During the reception in honour of the Deputy Minister, the Primate of the Orthodox Church in Africa gave Mr Doukas an old icon of the Apostle Peter and St Basil the Great from his own personal iconostasis. “Please accept this old icon, before which I pray to receive strength, and have success at your feet always” said His Beatitude to the Deputy Minister, expressing the wish that “our nation will always be strong”.

     Mr Doukas gave His Beatitude a pectoral emblem of the All Holy Virgin, congratulatin him on his multifaceted missionary work over the length and breadth of Africa. “You are truly a beacon of Hellenism and Orthodoxy and we are at you side”, said Mr Doukas.Members of the Hellenic Societies and Associations of Cairo and Alexandria were a strong presence at the function.