The new Civil Administrator of Mount Athos visits the Representative Monastery of Esphigmenou Monastery
On Thursday, 29 August 2024, as part of the ceremonial visits to the 20 Holy Monasteries of Mount Athos, after assuming his new duties as Civil Administrator, Mr. Alkiviadis Stefanis was received by the abbot of the Holy Esphigmenou Monastery, Archimandrite Bartholomew, and the brotherhood of the Monastery, in the Representative Monastery of the Monastery.
Mr. Stefanis, coming to the Representative Monastery, inspected the exterior of the building occupied by heterodox in Karyes. Then, after venerating in the chapel of the Representative Monastery, where the ceremony of his reception took place, he listened attentively to the greeting of the Abbot of Esphigmenou Monastery.
Abbot Bartholomew referred to the institution that Mr. Stefanis is called to serve as Civil Administrator, the necessary respect for the Charter of Mount Athos, the tolerance of criminality within Mount Athos which has been seen until this day and the dangers involved in the involvement of political parties and external factors with the occupation of the Esphigmenou Monastery.
Mr. Stefanis in his address thanked Abbot Bartholomew and the Fathers of the Monastery for the warm welcome and for the wishes he received. He spoke of the sacred obligation of respect to Mount Athos and gave a promise-oath that he would devote all his strength to serve his duty as a Civil Administrator.
Specifically, the Civil Administrator, Mr. Alkiviadis Stefanis, said the following:
“Holy Elder, thank you very much for the welcome. Also, thank you because, for a long time now, you have been updating me on so many issues and you know I follow them too, but your update is more thorough and more timely and I thank you for that. With your permission, too, allow me to thank the Elders from the bottom of my heart for their welcome and love. Thank you also very much for the wishes offered on my name day. It is a feast day that few people know about and thank you for remembering it. That which I said and have placed as a goal, and you also repeated it, I am very clear in my soul and in my mind that we all have a sacred obligation to this over 1000 year history of Mount Athos to apply all our strength so that Mount Athos may continue to be an ornament.
At a time when everything appears doubtful and everything is uncertain, the Christian Orthodox must have a solid foundation, and this solid foundation is provided by Mount Athos. It is a place to which the Greek as well as the Christian Orthodox come in order to find peace, to reflect, to find forgiveness and to find the strength to go out into the world again and continue his secular activities and responsibilities. And I, as the Civil Administrator, as you said, and the one who represents the Hellenic state on Mount Athos, coordinating all its services, I promise, I swear, and you will see that I will do it, to devote all my powers, as I have done until now in my 46 years of service to serve this duty as well. A work that is surrounded with enormous honour and responsibility. Thank you very much, it is an honour and a pleasure to be here on Mount Athos under these circumstances. May you all be well”
The Abbot, Archimandrite Bartholomew, offered Mr. Stefanis as a gift, on the occasion of his visit, an icon of the Ascension of Our Lord, for which the Katholicon of the Monastery is honoured.
Then he was offered traditional monastic hospitality and sat at the monastery refectory together with the fathers and lay pilgrims of the Monastery.
