Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spent Sunday’s Epiphany (Theophany) religious holiday on the northeast island of Samothrace, where he also attended a traditional outdoors “Blessing of the Waters” Orthodox Church service held on the day.
In a brief message afterwards, he noted that “I will defend and we’ll defend what we consider to be beneficial for the country,” while also making reference to the most recent inflammatory statements coming from official Turkish leadership.
He was referring to a provocative statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself, who used a jingoistic reference during a recent visit to the western port city of Izmir.
“Towards the outside (of Greece), I would like to send a message that, despite our internal differences, Greeks are united and will defend the sovereignty and integrity of our homeland… I heard my friend, President Erdogan, reading lines from a poem that praises war… I’d like to use a verse by Bertolt Brecht… who wrote: ‘ General, man is very useful. He can fly and he can kill. But he has one defect: He can think’.”
On his part, main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the religious ceremony in the eastern Attica port town of Rafina, just south of the wildfire-ravaged settlement of Mati.
“After a particularly difficult period, my wish is for 2019 to be a year filled with light and joy for all Greeks,” he said.
In a departure from previous years, when the country’s main Epiphany service was held at the port of Piraeus, this year Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymous officiated at a mass in the main cathedral on the Cyclades island of Syros. He was joined by President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
