Greece’s president of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, arrived on Corfu on Friday, on the occasion of the 157th anniversary of the Ionian islands’ union with the modern Greek state.
Afterwards, Sakellaropoulou attended a celebratory service at the Holy Monastery of Platytera, officiated by the Metropolitan of Corfu, His Eminence Nektarios. A wreath-laying ceremony followed at the grave of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece.
Greece’s foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, who hails from Corfu, issued a message on the occasion from Cairo, where he arrived for talks with Egyptian leadership.
Earlier, the visiting Greek minister was received at the celebrating cathedral of Sts. Constantine and Helen, in Cairo, by the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, His Most Divine Beatitude Theodoros II.
The Alexandria Patriarch noted that “…I would like to warmly welcome you to the Greek Orthodox Church. As soon as we begin the evening service, the souls of the Greeks who passed away here will rejoice.”
His Most Divine Beatitude also expressed great satisfaction over what he called the tireless efforts of Greece for peace in the Middle East.
