YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–A Greek delegation led by President Costantinos Stephanopoulos and accompanied by Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian visited the Holy See of Echmiadzin on May 13.
The Greek president and his entourage were received by Catholicos of All Armenia’s Karekin I. Also attending the meeting were Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Torgom Manoogian and senior church officials.
"The centuries-old historic ties between the peoples of Armenia and Greece date back to the times of Ancient Greece–Byzanthia–and extend to modern Greece where many of our compatriots live today and they are proud of being citizens of Greece and at the same time of being followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church," Karekin I told the Greek president through Primate of the Greek Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Voskan Galfakian.
In his speech–His Holiness stated that Greece is a country where our compatriots took refuge in 1922–after pogroms in Ismir. He expressed his gratitude to the president of Greece for last year’s resolution adopted by the Greek parliament to declare April 24 Genocide Commemoration Day.
The president of Greece–on his own behalf and on behalf of his people–wished Karekin I a quick recovery.
Thereafter–the Greek president–accompanied by the Catholicos’ Vicar General Archbishop Garegin Nersissian–visited the exhibition of the Church Treasury.