Athens, 04-06-2013
Today, Tuesday, June 04, 2013, the Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece convened for its second session for the month of June under the Presidency of HB Ieronymos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece.
At first the Standing Holy Synod ratified the Proceedings of the Authorisation.
Subsequently, HB the President expressed his joy at the Irenic Visit of HH Cyril, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, to the Church of Greece, which was crowned by absolute success and resulted in the further development of the fraternal relations between the two Churches.
After elaborating the agenda submitted to it by the Most Rev. Hierarchs, the Standing Holy Synod set the dates of 15, 16, 17 and 18 October 2013 for the ordinary convocation of the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy and the subject of “The part of the institution of family in modern Greek society” as thematic focus of its proceedings.
Following which and upon a relevant proposal of the Synodical Committee of Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations, it decided to grant 76 scholarships to Greek students at educational institutions abroad.
The Standing Holy Synod was informed:
a.by a document of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education regarding the issue of training of the Holy Clergy of the Church of Greece, about the possibility of developing this project;
b.by the Synodical Committee of Social Welfare and Beneficence about the fact that, for the year of 2012, the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and the Holy Metropolises of the Church of Greece spent the total amount of 106,073,864.17€ (i.e. around one-hundred-and-six million euro) on maintaining and running the various foundations of the Church and for charitable and social purposes, as the Church of Greece carries out a huge social and charitable work for the relief of our ailing brethren and our brethren in need, a work deployed through ca. 700 such foundations throughout the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and the Holy Metropolises.
On the same occasion, the Standing Holy Synod was informed that, through the care of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and of the Holy Metropolises, more than 50,000 portions of food are offered daily, with love and discernment, to our Greek and foreign fellow-men resorting to the food distribution centres (soup kitchens) of the Church of Greece.
Finally, the Standing Holy Synod decided on current issues regarding its various services.
From the Standing Holy Synod
{Transl. into English by
Dr Nikolaos C. Petropoulos,
M.St., D.Phil. [Oxon.]}
