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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-08-15Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis visits Evangelistria Cathedral in TinosPrime Minister Costas Karamanlis, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos and party representatives on Wednesday attended the ceremony on the island of Tinos marking the anniversary of the torpedoing and sinking of the battleship "Elli", in the island's port on August 15, 1940, and the religious celebration for the Virgin Mary at the Evangelistria Cathedral. The Church service began at 8:30 in the morning and an hour later the dignitaries boarded a Greek Navy vessel and laid wreaths in the sea at the location where the battleship had sunk. Shortly after 11, the Holy Icon of the Virgin Mary was carried through the city's main street and taken to the central port, where addresses were made by Cyclades Metropolitan Dorotheos and by Pavlopoulos, with reference being made to the health of Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos and wishes being expressed for his speedy return to his religious duties.Speaking after the events, Karamanlis said that one of the greatest celebrations for Hellenism and Orthodoxy was being celebrated on this day, a celebration sending "messages of love, hope, solidarity and messages of humanity." The prime minister further stressed that the Greek women and men "are working intensively, uniting our strength and efforts to enable our society to become all the more powerful and all the more effective in its interventions, particularly with regard to our less privileged fellow countrymen." Lastly, Karamanlis underlined that "many important things have taken place over the past three years. We are, however, in the middle of a difficult and uphill path. We are determined to continue to proceed along this path, the path of responsibility, the path of work, the only path that guarantees a better future for the country and the citizens." CAPTION: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his wife Natasha visiting the Evangelistria Cathedral in Tinos on Wednesday, August 15, 2007. ANA-MPA / HARIS LASKARIS. [02] President Papoulias visits Panagia SoumelaPresident Karolos Papoulias visited the Panagia Soumela Cathedral in Vermio, northern Greece, on Wednesday on the occasion of the religious holiday for the Virgin Mary and was awarded with the Komninos Grand Cross by the foundation bearing the same name.The government was represented at the event by Minister of Macedonia and Thrace George Kalantzis and Parliament by its Vice President George Sourlas. Also present were main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou, ruling New Democracy party Secretary Lefteris Zagoritis, the leader of the out-of-Parliament Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party George Karatzaferis, the leader of the out-of-Parliament Democratic Revival party Stelios Papathemelis, Deputy Culture Minister for Sport George Orfanos and other officials. President Papoulias sent a message of national unanimity, solidarity, love and creation to all the Greeks, stressing the importance of the day for Orthodoxy and the Virgin Mary and referring to the great values of Orthodoxy that are "love for man, solidarity and unselfish patriotism." Kalantzis said that all the Greeks must struggle to create Greece that all desire and deserve and to achieve a better future that the new generations and children are entitled to. Papandreou said on his part that "we honour the struggles and tradition of Black Sea Hellenism, this beautiful part of Hellenism and of Greece. It gives us inspiration, it gives us strength, strength to struggle for a better Greece, for a better future of dignity, solidarity, love and humanity." Zagoritis extended his greetings to all Greek men and women, as well as to Black Sea Hellenism, saying that being at the Panagia Soumela Cathedral one remembers what it had experienced but had managed to survive. Karatzaferis said it was a great day for Orthody and for Hellenism and stressed that he felt great satisfaction for the struggles he has waged at the European Parliament for the Black Sea Greeks. Lastly, Papathemelis said that the great turnout of people at the event showed the profound faith of the Greek people in the Orthodox Church and in the longstanding values of Hellenism. CAPTION: ANA-MPA file photo of President Karolos Papoulias. [03] KKE's SG on country's defence doctrineCommunist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga, speaking on the occasion of Armed Forces Day on Wednesday, stressed the need for working people to resist and condemn the enacted accession of the country's defence doctrine to the aggressive new order doctrine of assymetrical threats."The country's armed forces are already participating in occupation armies, in the policy of imposing military extortions, in the changing of borders and the use of force against peoples who are struggling or resisting," she said. Papariga also expressed her party's opposition to "the enactment, that also took place with the agreement of the New Democracy and PASOK parties, of the involvement of the military in the suppression of strikes and of mobilisations in order to protect the profits of businessmen," adding that it is also "against the turning of the armed forces into a mercenary army for NATO or the EU." Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |