The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymos met with the delegation from the Vatican, which is in Greece for the ceremony of the reunification of the fragments that will take place in the afternoon.

Welcoming the members of the delegation from the Vatican, Archbishop Hieronymos expressed his emotion and joy at the delivery of the three fragments from the Vatican Museums to the Acropolis Museum. Ahead of tonight’s ceremony at the Acropolis Museum, the Archbishop emphasized that “the events that will follow and that we will experience today are events that have filled the hearts of all Greeks with joy.

The heroic decision of the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church to donate a treasure that may not seem large, but is the greatest gift to all of us, is something that leaves us indebted.” In fact, he noted that “the hill of the Acropolis and the Parthenon temple are points that shock the history and the path of everyone in this place”.

He also expressed, once again, his emotion for the gesture of Pope Francis for the return of the fragments and added: “We particularly appreciate the decision of the Roman Catholic Church to offer, to my humble person, the fragments, which we just as willingly granted to the Greek state, to be exhibited in the Acropolis Museum”.

At another point, Archbishop Hieronymos referred to the problems we face and pointed out: “I believe that our Christianity, our teaching, our faith, can help to solve them.” “Furthermore, the leaders of the Churches are called to look not at what divides us but at what unites us,” he pointed out.

The delegation is headed by Bishop Brian Farell, secretary of the Vatican Commission for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and members of the Commission’s undersecretary Fr Andrea Palmieri, Professor Dr Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums and Archbishop Jan Romeo Pawlowski, Nuncio of the Vatican in Greece.

Also present at the meeting were the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, Bishop of Oreon Filotheos, the Proto-Secretary of the Archdiocese, Archimandrite Varnavas Theoharis, the general hierarchal commissioner, Archimandrite Iakovos Andriopoulos, the collaborator of the Synodal Committee on Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations Fr. Emmanuel Papamikroulis and the Archdeacon Fr. Ioannis Boutsis.

The head of the Delegation, Bishop Brian Farell, conveyed the greetings of Pope Francis and referred to the special symbolic value of the fragments granted by the Vatican Museum.

“It is true that one could not imagine how much satisfaction this initiative would bring to the Greek people, and we are deeply moved to participate in this historic event,” noted the bishop and added: “The value of contacts between the churches is the most important. And, also, I want to emphasize the desire to be protagonists and representatives of the idea of ​​cooperation between us.”

The official reunification ceremony of the three fragments will take place in the afternoon, at 17:30, at the Acropolis Museum. With this ceremony, the initiative of Pope Francis to donate these three fragments to the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece is completed and follows the implementation of the agreement signed in the Vatican Museums, on March 7, 2023, between the representatives of the Pope and the Archbishop , for the delivery of the sculptures to the representative of the Archbishop and then to the director of the Acropolis Museum.