Your Eminence,
Reverend,
Major General,
Fellow Greeks,
Today, I have the honour of representing the Greek government at this modest and symbolic reception ceremony for the Holy Light.
As things are this year, unfortunately, we cannot receive the Holy Light with stateliness and honours of past years, as our homeland, along with the rest of the world, is facing a dangerous pandemic that threatens the highest good: life itself.
In these critical hours, our highest priority can be none other than to protect the health of society as a whole.
We all have a duty to carefully follow the instructions of the specialists and scientists, so that next year, all together, we can celebrate Easter as only Greeks know how.
However, the least we can do, as the State, is to bring the Holy Light directly from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to our homeland. And it may not reach every church this year, every home, but the Holy Light will burn – for those of us who believe – on the inextinguishable candle of the Holy Altar. And as the Ecumenical Patriarch said: “We won’t receive the Holy Light this year with our candles, but it will be transplanted to our hearts.”
With our thoughts with those who are suffering today, and especially those who are ill, I express the hope that the Holy Light and the Resurrection of the Lord will strengthen our hope for a better tomorrow, passing on the message of the victory of life over death to the whole world.
Many happy returns! Christ is risen! And health to all!
April 18, 2020