“It is a great pleasure and honour today for us to be swearing in, as Civil Governor and Deputy Civil Governor of Mount Athos, Thanassis Martinos and Aristos Kasmiroglou.
Allow me to say that I had the pleasure of inviting a few friends here – friends who are linked by the following: They were the people who contributed to the renovation of the old building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that it could project its current image, which, I assure you, is very different from its appearance three months ago. This image contributed to our excellent appearance during the U.S. Secretary of State’s recent visit to Athens.
Of course, this is a noble tradition, the tradition of the sponsorship, which Thanassis Martinos and his wife have repeatedly honoured. Yesterday we were in Cairo, where the Prime Minister and I went and saw the Church of Saint George, a wonderful Orthodox church, which is in fact build over a Roman tower and was rescued -I won’t say renovated- by Thanassis Martinos, with icons from different eras and, of course, on the lowest level, withthe tombs of the Patriarchs of Alexandria.
So this noble tradition of Thanassis Martinos has been followed by other donors, who remain anonymous, but make donations to help the Greek state, which, during the crisis, could not always maintain its facilities and services at the desired level.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you, and thanks to Mr. Kasmiroglou. Mr. Kasmiroglou is a person who has successfully served the Athonite State and the wider presence of the Greek state there. We are very pleased that he agreed to join in this effort. You have my warm thanks, and my warm thanks to all of you who are here today.”
October 10, 2019