“The persecutors of Christians do not care whether they are Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant. We must, therefore, join forces to protect Christian populations which are persecuted in the Middle East. We must do the same anywhere in the world to help Christians who became refugees because of war or fear to return safely back home”.
The above statement was made by the Head of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IAO) and MP of the New Democracy Party, Maximos Charakopoulos, after he had visited San Demetrio Corone, Calabria, Italy.
Maximos Charakopoulos was part of the delegation of the IAO that accompanied Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during his first visit to the villages of Calabria.
He also said that “Even though we live in an era in which some groups deny Europe’s religious identity, we can see that Christianity has left its imprint here, in Calabria”.
The Greek delegation of the IAO and the Ecumenical Patriarch attended an exhibition on ‘the Resurrection’. The Ecumenical Patriarch also planted a Koroni olive as a symbol of friendship to show the relations between Calabria citizens and the ones from Koroni in Peloponnese, their village of origin.
Source: ANA-MPA