Greek Army Chief visits Jerusalem Patriarch

The Chief of the General Staff of the Greek Army, Lieutenant General Charalambos Lalousis, visited the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem recently, accompanied by Lieutenant General Christos Boufis, Brigadier General Konstantinos Karamanidis, Captain Mr Ioannou Stylianopoulos, and Chief of Staff Mr Petrou and Mr Theodoros Tsiros.

The army chief  and his entourage, including  representative of the Consulate, Mrs Christina Zacharioudakis, were warmly received by His Beatitude, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos and Hagiotaphite Fathers.

In the context of this meeting, His Beatitude told the military members that the strength of the Greek Army comes from its faith in Christ and the protection of the Theotokos and the Saints.

'The Patriarchate considers itself a religious institution, but it also has its ethnic dimension, which the Church of Jerusalem has inherited from the Roman-Byzantine years, in a place watered by the blood of Christ and blessed by His burial and Resurrection. This fact is its strength. Through this power, the Patriarchate maintains through the centuries the multi-religious and multicultural Status Quo of the Holy City of Jerusalem and acts as a conciliatory, peaceful and negotiating pole, maintaining its ecclesiastical character.

'The Patriarchate of Jerusalem faces problems created by extreme radical Jewish elements, which want to liberate the Holy Land from the “abominations” of the later nationalities who came to the Holy Land.' said the Patriarchate on its website.

Mr Lalousis gave His Beatitude the shield of the Army and received His gifts, an icon of the Mother of God and the Holy Tomb of the Sacred Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre after its renovation in 2017, before leaving to venerate the Holy Sepulchre.