PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA: I came here to see Mr. Kotzias. I’ve known him for a long time – he has enthused me. As I said, I am the Patriarch of the poor. I came from Madagascar a week ago, and I am now preparing to go to Sierra Leone, together with my Metropolitan – he has already been regarding Ebola – and then I am leaving for French-speaking Africa. As I said to the Minister, it is the continent of the future, a decisive crossroads for the world. That is the future. But I am also Patriarch in the glorious past: Alexandria, Egypt.
We are working very, very well with President al-Sisi on the issues of the Christians of the Middle East. Very few of members of the Greek community have remained in Alexandria, in Cairo, but I am moved to tears, being a Cretan, when I light the candle, the censer in the old neighbourhoods of Alexandrian Hellenism.
But I am mounting a major struggle for the rights of the Christians of the Middle East. I have Libya, the countries of Northern Africa in general, which I visit, and we are endeavoring for a better tomorrow with our Egypt, and I want to express heartfelt thanks to our mother, which is Greece. We are Greeks. One morning we set out abroad to serve the space called the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. And many thanks to our people, in Greece. I wish you courage, patience – we shall manage in the end.
N. KOTZIAS: Patriarch Theodoros II is the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa. He is the paradigm and proof of the ecumenicity of Hellenism, of ancient and modern Greek culture, of the ecumenicity of Orthodoxy, of the battle waged not only in prosperous years and lands, but also in difficult lands and times, for a better life for our African fellow human beings, the young people, the children living in great poverty.
He is a paradigm of the Church as we all love it, with extensive social work and sensitivity to and tenderness for people’s suffering. It is a great honor for me to host, if only for a short while, such people with spirituality. You know that, in foreign policy, our Ministry and Hellenism need this spirituality and this kindness that is expressed, conveyed and represented by persons like the Patriarch. I thank him very much for honoring me with his presence.
June 19, 2015