A stone from Jordan was placed in a small chapel of Olympus

How one stone from the lowest point of the earth, which he traveled from Jordan to be placed in the highest chapel in Greece, at Olympusit was done symbol of friendship and cooperation two peoples?

It all started about three years ago and, as it happens most of the time, the best stories start with friends. But just yesterday, on Monday, the prince of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, Mirad Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein, accompanied by a Greek and Jordanian delegation, climbed to the small chapel of the Prophet Elijah on Mount Olympus, at an altitude of 2,804 meters, and placed a stone there from the lowest point of the mountain. land, but mainly from the place where Jesus was baptized, in Jordan. The move was purely symbolic and came to seal a relationship that arose from the initiative of some people to help with the reconstruction and the works that needed to be done for the small church.

“In 2019 – as Dimitris Politis reports – together with my brother Giannis, who is an engineer, my cousin Dimitris Evangelinos and Ramzi George Khouri, my colleague from Jordan, we climbed Mount Olympus to enjoy the route and nature. There, we saw the small church of Prophet Elias and the idea was born to help rebuild it, because it was in a very bad condition. Ramsay was excited and showed great interest from the start. Thus, the small church was built within a year.”

“Father Makarios, hieromonk of the monastery of Agios Dionysios in Olympus, after that, in a small ceremony, proclaimed us ‘inheritors’, but due to the pandemic, Ramzi could not come. He finally came this year, but in the meantime he had the idea to create an additional connecting link between Jordan and Greece,” states Mr. Politis.

“As an Orthodox Christian, I was very moved by the event and I thought of connecting my homeland, Jordan, with Greece, which anyway have a lot in common, we have a lot in common. Prince Mirad Raad Zeid Al Hussein took the project under his auspices and we all climbed Mount Olympus together, we placed in the small church a stone from the place where Christ was baptized and an inscription with QR codes that give information about the Monastery of Agios Dionysios in Olympus, and how can someone make donations for Bethany beyond Jordan, the place where Christ was baptized, and tourist information for Jordan (visit Jordan)”, said Mr. Khouri, speaking to the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency, who he is vice-president of the Hellenic-Jordanian Association of Businessmen and represents many Greek companies in Jordan.

“It was a gesture of respect and friendship between Greece and Jordan,” said Prince Mirad Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein, speaking to APE-MPE. “I love the history of Greece, we have studied at the university about ancient Greece, Alexander the Great, the Peloponnesian wars, etc.. Besides that, I have visited Greece many times as a tourist, and I like its nature and beauty . With this move, to climb Mount Olympus, we wanted to show that we are two peoples who share a lot in common and also to emphasize the harmonious coexistence of all people, regardless of religion,” added the Jordanian prince.

As he also mentioned, it is very important in the field of tourism to develop even more the relations between Greece and Jordan, as it is only a two-hour flight away and there is great interest on both sides.

“Equally important for us is accessible tourism, as accessibility is an area I deal with professionally,” said the Jordanian prince, “as well as the development of hiking,” he added.

The emotion from yesterday was still evident on the faces of the mission members and, as Mr. Khouri said, most of us burst into tears when we arrived at the chapel and placed the stone. We connected the lowest point with the highest, we reminded the connection, not only of Christians, but also of all people regardless of religion.

RES-EMP

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