On March 11th, 2023, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I was officially received at the Athens International Airport by a group of Armenian and Greek dignitaries, including the Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Greece, Archbishop Kegham Khacherian; the Consul General of Armenia in Greece, Tigran Vardanyan; the Ambassador of Lebanon to Greece, Ghadi al-Khouri; the Prelate of the Armenian Catholic Church of Greece, Fr. Hovsep Bezazian; the head of the local Armenian Evangelical community, Pastor Viken Cholakian; the head of the Armenian community, Takvor Hovagimian, as well as a representative of the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, clergymen, and community members.
Thereafter, Canonical prayers were conducted on the occasion of the pontifical visit at the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian Prelacy in Greece, during which His Holiness addressed the faithful with his pontifical speech.
During the ceremony, the welcoming remarks were addressed by the prelate, who expressed the community’s gratitude for the pontifical visit. Arch. Kegham wished His Holiness a fruitful and blessed service for many years to come and subsequently invited him to convey his message.
His Holiness expressed his joy and stated that the main purpose of his visit is to be with the people, listen to them, and understand the challenges they face in order to achieve the revitalization and reorganization of the Armenian diaspora as stated in the 2023 declaration.
A reception followed the ceremony in the atrium of the prelacy.
