PASOK leader meets with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew ahead of Epiphany Day celebration

PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at Phanar on Monday afternoon.

The main opposition leader said he was celebrating Epiphany for the fourth consecutive year with pilgrims at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Androulakis thanked the prelate for the opportunity he had this past summer to attend the inauguration of the renovation of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthdox Church on Tenedos island (Bozcaada). Every meeting with Bartholomew, he added, was "a lesson in humanitarianism, compassion, wisdom, and perspicacity, because these lessons are very important during these critical times for humanity when the violations of human rights and the law of the powerful against international law are gaining ground."

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said Androulakis' address at the reopening of the church was important and expressed the hope that the tradition of a PASOK leader celebrating Epiphany at Phanar would continue. The Ecumenical Patriarch also described to Androulakis the historic meeting he had with Pope Leo at Nicaea (Iznik) to honor the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Synod in 325 BC.

They both exchanged gifts and wishes for the new year.

Androulakis will attend the celebration of Epiphany Day on Tuesday at the Golden Horn (Bosporus), where the retrieval of the cross and the blessing of the waters will take place.