Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-05-11

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 20,000 in 25th Tour of Athens

[02] Patriarch, Archbishop hold mass

[01] 20,000 in 25th Tour of Athens

It began in the morning with a speech from Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis at the starting point, the marble-covered Panathenian Stadium that hosted the first-ever Olympic Games of 1896, who said that the Tour of Athens had become a "cultural and athletic institution".

"This year it coincides with Mother's Day and for this reason we decided to dedicate this Tour of Athens to the Greek mother and, if you will permit me, because it is nearly a year since last year's terrible fires, to dedicate specially to the memory of that mother that was lost with her four children," Kaklamanis said.

Everyone is welcome to take part in the Tour of Athens, which includes a special section starting at Syntagma Square for disabled participants. This year's race began at 10:00 and ended at around noon, following the usual route around central streets in the capital that had been cleared of traffic for the race.

It was flanked by various events and entertainments that ended at around 13:00. Among the highlights, the opportunity for participants to have their photograph taken with the Olympic Torch used in the Olympic Torch relay for the Beijing 2008 Games, a lottery, a concert by the Greek band "Dytikes Synoikies" and a show by the national basketball team Cheerleaders.

The main sponsor of this year's race was the company Samsung, while other sponsors included the companies Peugeot, Avra Active-cap, the television and radio channels ANT1, the radio station Athens 98.4, Ster Cinemas, the newspaper Metro and the magazine Woman Symbol.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph of the Tour of Athens taken in 2005.

[02] Patriarch, Archbishop hold mass

In a sermon during the service, Bartholomew referred to the close ties between the Greek Church and Fanar and also stressed that the acts of 1850 and 1928 that granted the Church of Greece its autocephalous and administratively independent status "should not be seen as uprooting the branch from the original grapevine, nor falsely presenting the limits set during the ecumenical synods and agreed upon by the Fathers of the Church".

He added that those things that "irregularly grew from the grapevine of the Church as a 'greedy offshoot' would be considered a damaging growth" and "cast into the fire for not bearing good fruit".

Replying to the Patriarch, Archbishop Ieronymos also stressed the "absolute respect" of the Church of Greece for everything it had received from Fanar and said that the "Patriarchal and Synodical tome of 1850 are the fundamental text and the basis for us. We seek nothing more and do not intend to implement anything less."

He also promised that any "difficulties or lapses" that may have occured in the past would not be allowed to once again return to the forefront by any means.

A few years ago, when Ieronymos' predecessor Christodoulos was Archbishop of Athens, a rancorous dispute had broken out with Fanar over the ecclesiastical administration of the so-called 'new lands' dioceses in northern Greece, with Phanar demanded strict adherence to the Act of 1928 and a greater say in the appointments made there, which the Greek Church opposed for legal reasons. A settlement satisfactory to both sides was eventually reached just before the summer of 2004.

Caption: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (left) and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece (right) held a mass together at a monastery in Valukli on Sunday morning. ANA-MPA - Christos Bonis.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article