“Christianity has profoundly influenced European culture. As mentioned in a meeting with the new Vice-President of the European Commission for “Protecting our European Way of Life,” Margaritis Schinas. There is no doubt that Christianity is a part of European identity. After all, Christian values, along with Ancient Greek spirit and Roman law, are the pillars of Europe.”
Those were the words of Maximos Charakopoulos, the head of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), at the 1st Joint Meeting of the IOA and the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN) at the European Parliament.
Maximos Charakopoulos referred to the need for Orthodox and Catholics to work together and to set up an Inter-Parliamentary Committee in the European Parliament “to contribute to the promotion of Christian values and peaceful coexistence and to take initiatives to support Christians under persecution.”
Maximos Charakopoulos further noted that “It is time to set up a Christian Persecution Observatory, which I proposed to the IAO, as the persecutors do not care if those, who slaughter and uproot from their Christian homelands, are either Orthodox or Catholic or of any belief. I think we should all work together. The Lebanese initiative may receive our support.”
Meeting with European Commission Vice-President
Earlier, the IAO delegation held a meeting with the new Vice-President of the European Commission for “Protecting our European Way of Life,” Margaritis Schinas, with whom they discussed closer cooperation with the European Commission and presented him with the icon of the Resurrection of Christ, which received a prize in an IAO competition.
Source: ANA-MPA
