The Greek deputy minister of foreign affairs visited paid an official visit to Cape Town after having visited The Patriarchate of Alexandria and Ethiopia.
At the start of his stay in Cape Town he visited the Metropolis of Good Hope where he spent time with His Eminence Archbishop Sergios Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town.
His Eminence and the Minister exchanged ideas and views on the Greek people living in Africa and other important issues pertaining to the Hellenic Communities which fall under the Metropolis of Good Hope.
On Sunday 26 February Minister Quick attended the Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint George. In his address after the Service, His Eminence welcomed the minister to the Cathedral of Saint George which is the first Orthodox Church to have been built in South Africa in 1902 by some of the first Greeks to have arrived in Cape Town.
His Eminence said that there are many Greeks in South Africa and we are proud because we hold the flag of our motherland high, we are proud because we speak our language which is also the language of Holy Scripture, and we set a good example to others around us. And that with humility we pray for this beautiful and rich country to take the right path – as we also pray for Greece and Cyprus.
He said that Africa has lots of needs and our Clergy play a vital role in assisting both our own communities and the communities at large. He thanked the minister for the clergy that Greece sends to our parishes and subsequently introduced the parish of Cape Town, p Father Nikolaos who has been in this country for twenty five years, Deacon Michael Simos who was born in this country and studied at a Theological school in Greece, Deacon Father Nicholas, a local Afrikaner who converted to Orthodoxy and the sub deacon Petros Khaya who is from the Eastern Cape. His Eminence also mentioned that we are fortunate to have translated the Orthodox Services into all the local languages of South Africa as have other African countries.