According to valid information from orthodoxtimes.com, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a meeting with Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens at the Archdiocesan Mansion this morning.
As reported by government sources, the prime minister informed the Archbishop about the course of the pandemic and the measures taken by the government to deal with it. Moreover, the common denominator in the statements of both the prime minister and the Archbishop was the urgent need for all of us to do everything in our power to contribute to the implementation of the measures, by complying with both faithfully and unswervingly the health rules, as has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic.
They were also hopeful that the observance of the health rules and the subsequent improvement of the epidemiological data will allow us to celebrate Christmas Day under different conditions.
“It is up to us to comply with the measures and to celebrate Christmas Day with our Churches open,” stressed Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Archbishop Ieronymos added: “We all have a responsibility to protect our neighbor and public health with our attitude so that we can celebrate Christmas Day in our churches.”
Despite the leaks from certain church centers that there is a bad climate on both sides, as confirmed by sources from government and the Holy Synod, the relationship between Archbishop Ieronymos and the prime minis are excellent.
It is recalled that a few days ago the Holy Synod asked the government and the prime minister to open the churches on the ten days of Christmas period, just as had been the case in the previous period, with strict observance and faithful observance of all the measures, orders and instructions of the competent state authorities, and always based on the evolution in epidemiological data within this and next month.
Today’s meeting contradicts all the information regarding the quarantine of Archbishop Ieronymos, since, despite the fact that one COVID-19 case was confirmed at the meeting of the Holy Synod, all the tests were negative.