On the afternoon of the Tuesday preceding Palm Sunday, April 23, 2024, Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and all Scandinavia, accompanied by the Vicar of St. George’s Cathedral in Stockholm, Archimandrite Bartholomew Iatridis, attended a speech organized by the Greek Embassy in Stockholm on postal voting at the ABF Conference Center. The Minister of Interior of Greece, Niki Kerameus, delivered the speech.
Following the informative session initiated by the Greek Government, Ambassador Aikaterini Fountoulaki hosted a dinner in a city restaurant in honor of Minister Kerameus. Attendees included her associate, Mr. Laskaris, Metropolitan Cleopas, and the Consul of Greece in Stockholm, Mr. Nikolaos Karalekas.
During the dinner, Metropolitan Cleopas conveyed heartfelt wishes from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Minister. He also graciously presented the Minister with his two-volume work titled “Saint Nektarios of Kefalas, Metropolitan of Pentapolis: A Historical Study Based on Unpublished Archival Sources,” published by the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece. The book references the scholarly historian A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, who assisted the then Archimandrite and later Metropolitan of Pentapolis Nektarios of Kefalas, Patriarchal Vicar of Cairo, in recording and classifying ancient holy icons discovered in a crypt of the Holy Monastery of Saint George in old Cairo on August 13, 1887.
The Minister confirmed to the Metropolitan that she is related to A. Papadopoulos-Kerameos. Subsequently, the Bishop briefed the Minister on the ongoing missionary work in his Province and extended an invitation for her to visit the Cathedral of St. George in Stockholm on a future trip, to meet with the congregation of the Mother Church in Scandinavia.
The following morning, the Minister departed from Stockholm to Brussels to continue her official duties and tour.
Translated by: Konstantinos Menyktas
