VISITS TO HIS BEATITUDE

The Patriarchal Representative of Acre – Ptolemais Archimandrite Fr Silouanos and the twelve ministering Priests of the jurisdiction of this Metropolis visited His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos on Saturday, 14th / 27th January 2024.

At this meeting, the Priests greeted His Beatitude on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year. They presented the issues of the Metropolis and their parishes, for which His Beatitude gave the appropriate instructions and awarded the office of the Cross-bearer to the Priest of Count Kufr Yassif Farah-Haralambos Farah and the Elder Savva Mahoulis, also Priest of this county and assistant priest of the county of Tarsikha.

In this connection, His Beatitude mentioned to the visiting priests the event that took place yesterday on the East Bank of the Jordan River in the celebration of the silver jubilee of the founding of the Baptism Site in the Jordan River, He referred to its excellent organization by the Jordanian Government and by the Amman Metropolis under the Archbishop Christophoros of Kyriakoupolis and also mentioned the collective participation of the people and representatives of various states.

Subsequently, His Beatitude received a representation of the Corps of Arabic-speaking Scouts living in Israel, numbering around 3,000 members and active in the Kufr Yassif commune, under their President Mr Nader Samaan, with Mr David Mansour, Mrs Esther Abumane, of Mr Jiries Yakub Gadous, Mr Nikolas Limanis and the son of the President of the Council of Acre, Mr Fuad Breck, among others.

The Scouts paid their respects to His Beatitude on Christmas and New Year’s Day and thanked Him for the help He had provided them in the past, as they mentioned in detail to Him.

The Scouts specifically referred to their relations with the Scouts of other countries, such as Jordan and Serbia, and asked for His Beatitude’s blessing to visit the Greek Scouts next summer.

His Beatitude blessed their efforts to cultivate a climate of coexistence and reconciliation and praised their action for the education of the youth.

From Secretariat-General