|
top
Athens News Agency - July 9, 1999
Spyridon Pays Rush Visit To The Phanar
By Justine Frangouli
Archbishop Spyridon of America will pay a rush visit to the
Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Phanar on Sunday. The Archbishop and Patriarch
Bartholomew will discuss the crescendo of rumours concerning the Church in
America, rumours that have taken on disturbing dimensions in the Greek and
Greek-American press in recent days.
Archbishop Spyridon will be compelled to miss the solemn Memorial Service
for the 25th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, to be attended
by official representatives and members of all major Greek-American and Greek-Cypriot
organizations on Sunday at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York.
In an encyclical letter dedicated to the tragic anniversary, the Primate of
the Church in America stressed that "we must call for the world to shake
off its indifference and self-interest, to find a truly peaceful solution
in place of the non-solution of partition."
The Archbishop of America also pointed out that the international community
should not forget the ongoing illegal occupation of 37% of the island of Cyprus,
the tragedy of 1,600 missing persons, the displacement of 200,000 refugees
from their ancestral homes, the introduction of settlers from Turkey employed
to distort the demographic make-up of the island, and the systematic elimination
of every trace of Cypriot Hellenic and Christian heritage.
Archbishop Spyridon called upon all Greek Orthodox parishes to commemorate
the solemn anniversary with special Memorial services and thus contribute
to the overall efforts to persuade Washington to seek a solution to the Cyprus
problem.
[ Translated from Greek ]
[ Αθηναϊκό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων - July 9, 1999 ]
|