Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos expressed his wish for a “true Easter” for all people in a statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) for Orthodox Easter Sunday, noting that this meant primarily “an internal resurrection that is for each person individually and at the same time for all people.”

Explaining that the Greek word for Easter – ‘Pascha’ – was essentially the Hebrew word meaning Passover and described the Jews passage from slavery in Egypt to freedom, “from darkness to light, from death to life,” he expressed his wish that the Easter holiday will be a similar passage for each individual person “to the things that we want to have all our life.”

“May we also have such a passage in our everyday problems, such an Easter this year,” he added.

The Archbishop also expressed his great pleasure at the imminent inauguration by the church of a Gerontology Centre at Dilesi, Oropos and noted that this had been one of the goals he had cherished: “As the Church, apart from the life that we give through the mysteries, we offer relief and care for people experiencing great difficulties.”

“On May 23 we are inaugurating the Gerontology Centre, which will receive people of advanced age but also act as a research centre. It will have a team of scientists and its president will be Rector Athanasios Dimopoulos. The residents will be able to undergo mild treatment in order to prevent the other stages of the disease that follow,” he noted, explaining that the centre will also have a section devoted to people suffering from Alzheimer’s, which was a growing problem.

Roughly a month later, in June, he revealed that the Church expects to also inaugurate a centre for children suffering from autism and cognitive impairment issues in Varnavas. “It is very nice. One part of it will be inaugurated. This is also ready,” Archbishop Ieronymos said, visibly pleased, and ended by wishing all a happy Easter.