Date: Friday, 29 September 2023
According to the old calendar followed by the country of Eritrea, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was celebrated and attended by clergy representatives of the Eritrean Patriarchate, Keren Diocese, and believers from the region.
The Keren Greek Community was founded in 1896 and since then the presence of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa, through the Holy Metropolis of Aksum, has existed until today. The late Vlasis Frangoulis founded a small parish, the Holy Church, and the elementary school, which are preserved. Another famous Greek was Praxitelis Kyriakakis, from the village of Melitini in Sparta, who lived and worked hard there, as well as many other Presidents of the Community and members, from many parts of Greece.
The Eritrean Greek Community, in the first post-war decades, came to count around 400 members. However, during the 1970s, due to major changes, political and economic, it received key blows. Today it consists of a small number of Greeks, who leaf through the “sacred and faithful” of their traditions.
After the first visit of Metropolitan Daniel of Aksum to Eritrea, in October 2022, the way was opened for the second one to take place these days, consisting of Archimandrite Stefanos Katiforis, Assoc. Professor of the Ionian University Dr. Christos Karydis, the expatriate from Eritrea Mr. Lambros Kyriakakos and Mr. Vasilios Giannopoulos.
The delegations were officially invited by the Tewahdo Patriarchate of Eritrea, they participated in the magnificent Feast of the Holy Cross (Meskel) in the center of Asmara, with the presence of all the Members of the Holy Synod under Archbishop Loukas and were subsequently received with an official ceremony in Patriarchal Palace, where gifts were offered and matters of further cooperation were discussed in detail.