“The cataclysms, unfortunately, never end on earth,” said Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, referring to the wars that affect young children and humanity in general, during his visit today to the child protection village of the “Ark of the World” in Chios.
In the facilities of the “Ark of the World”, in the area of Aipos in Chios, children are also hosted with their mothers from Ukraine, who left their country due to the war.
The Archbishop referred to what he described as the great work being done by the “Ark of the World” both in Chios and in the rest of Greece by Fr. Antonios and his associates. He underlined that thanks to the efforts of the “Ark”, children from all over the world and, now, from Ukraine, are guided and escape the evils of life.
“Unfortunately, the cataclysms on our land never end. We had the war in Syria with the suffering and the uprooting of children from their homeland and now we have the war in Ukraine,” he stressed. “A fratricidal war, unjust, like Cain murdering his brother Abel again. In this war of Ukraine, there is plenty of blood spilled between brothers, between neighbors, “he said to the Ukrainians hosted in the “Ark of the World”. The children hosted in the “Ark” and the children who came from Ukraine presented to the Archbishop and the Greek-American expatriates of Chios origin who accompanied him, cultural events inspired by the Ukrainian and Greek traditions.
“We know that the Ukrainian people neither asked for nor want war and they defend the values of democracy, dignity, and Orthodox faith. That is why they have the support of the whole free and democratic world that shares the same values,” said the Archbishop of America. “Your struggle is a struggle for freedom against authoritarianism, against violence, and for peace,” he added. “For the same freedom Europe has paid a heavy price in the past and no one has the right to abolish it,” he noted.
The Archbishop referred to the actions and initiatives of both the Archdiocese of America and the expatriates in support of the actions of the “Ark of the World” and the effects of the war on the Ukrainian people. “I assure you that the Church and the Greek community will continue to be by your side and we will support you as long as we can,” he said.