Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in Lithuania on an official visit at the invitation of Roman Catholic Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius, President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), to address the Roman Catholic Church’s World Charity Apostolic Congress.
The Ecumenical Patriarch is accompanied by Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios, Director of the Patriarchal Private Office, and Third Deacon Epiphanios.
The Ecumenical Patriarch arrived in the Baltic nation late on the afternoon of Saturday, June 6.
At Vilnius International Airport, he was welcomed by the newly appointed Exarch of Lithuania, Bishop Panaretos of Tamissos, who joined the official Patriarchal delegation, Ambassador Artūras Gailiūnas, a senior official of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador of Greece to Lithuania, Grigorios Karahalios, Mehmet Bakici of the Turkish Embassy representing the Ambassador, and clergy of the Patriarchal Exarchate.
