A special AEGEAN flight, at no cost to the Greek public, left today, Holy Saturday, in the morning from Athens to bring the Holy Light from Jerusalem to Greece, sending a message of hope and love.
The aircraft landed at around 8:30 and was boarded by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andreas Katsaniotis, in order to attend the Holy Light Ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which will take place around 16:30.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs will receive the Holy Light from His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, with whom he will also have a meeting, according to a relevant announcement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The arrival of the Holy Light at Athens "Eleftherios Venizelos" airport is expected at approximately 19:30 with an AEGEAN A320neo aircraft and, subsequently, it will be distributed throughout the Greek territory by air.
Specifically, AEGEAN and Olympic Air aircraft will transport the Holy Light to 8 destinations within the Greek territory.
The AEGEAN and Olympic Air flight schedule is as follows:
Athens - Alexandroupoli (A3 146) - Departure 20:05 - Arrival 21:05
Athens - Chania (A3 344) - Departure 22:35 - Arrival 23:25
Athens - Samos (OA 3004) (extraordinary) - Departure 18: 30 - Arrival 19:30
Samos - Larissa (OA 3005) (extraordinary) - Departure 19:40 - Arrival 20:55
Larissa - Limnos (OA 3006) (extraordinary) - Departure 21:05 - Arrival 21:55
Athens - Ioannina (OA 3000) ( special) - Departure 18:30 - Arrival 19:45
Ioannina - Corfu (OA 3001) (special) - Departure 19:55 - Arrival 20:15
Corfu - Kefalonia (OA 3002) (special) - Departure 20:25 - Arrival 21:05
The transmission of the Light to different parts of Greece will also be done by SKY Express aircraft.
The route schedule is as follows:
Athens - Thessaloniki (GQ388) - Departure 20:20 - Arrival 21:15
Athens - Heraklion (GQ216) - Departure 20:20 - Arrival 21:10
Athens - Rhodes (GQ282) - Departure 19:15 - Arrival 20:15
Athens - Kos (GQ224) - Departure 20:45 - Arrival 21:45
Athens - Mykonos (GQ234) - Departure 20:35 - Arrival 21: 20
Athens - Mytilini (GQ304) - Departure 20:15 - Arrival 21:20
Athens - Santorini (GQ356) - Departure 20:55 - Arrival 21:50
Athens - Chios (GQ244) - Departure 20:35 - Arrival 21 :25
In the mission for the ceremony of touching and transporting the Holy Light, in addition to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Exarch of the Holy Sepulcher in Greece Archimandrite Raphael, the MP of the New Republic Maximos Harakopoulos, president of the Interparliamentary Synod of Orthodoxy and the members of the Synod take part: Thanasis Davakis ND MP and Yannis Sarakiotis SYRIZA MP.
Also, the deputy of the New Republic Savvas Anastasiadis, chairman of the committee of expatriate Hellenism of the Parliament and the representative of the Holy Synod Theoklitos Metropolitan of Stagion and Meteora.
READ MORE: See the AMAZING photos of Levantine Greeks observing Good Friday in Syria and Lebanon.
