People in Greece celebrated the Epiphany, one of Christianity’s most important feast days, on Thursday under strict COVID-19 protection measures.

On the remote Greek island of Gavdos, people gathered with masks on at a chapel in Karave harbour for the Blessing of the Waters ceremony.

Greece’s President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, was in attendance at the ceremony and gave a speech stressing the need to support the islanders that preserved and cared for this “beautiful cradle of Hellenism.”

READ MORE: A historic Blessing of the Waters for Port Adelaide’s Greek Orthodox Community.

“From the southernmost point of our homeland and of Europe, Gavdos, near our islanders who safeguard a beautiful facet of Hellenism, I wish the best to all,” Sakellaropoulou, who was made an honourary citizen of the island, said.

Elsewhere, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, celebrated Epiphany on the island of Agios Efstratios.

He attended a service officiated by the Metropolitan Ierotheos of Limnos and Agios Efstratios, and the Blessing of the Waters ceremony in the island’s harbour.

“Today, on this very important day for Orthodoxy, I wanted to be in the remote Agios Efstratios, a place with a deep history. A landmark of division and trial which, however, becomes a landmark of unity and optimism,” Mitsotakis said after the ceremony.

READ MORE: The Epiphany: What is it and why do Greeks celebrate it?.

Mitsotakis also expressed his hope that the Orthodox holiday will help bring illumination to all, especially those who were still vaccine hesitant. He urged them to get vaccinated “…to protect their own lives but also the safety and health of those they care for.”

On the mainland, in Athens, the liturgy of the Great Sanctification was performed at 9.30am in the Cathedral by the Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos.

These Epiphany services all came as Greece recorded 33,716 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, as well as 70 deaths.

READ MORE: Blessing of the Waters events across NSW and Victoria cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Director of the Areopolis Health Centre in Greece, Dr Anargyros D. Mariolis, has been named ‘Best Family Doctor’ in the world for 2021 by The World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA).

The award is conferred every two years on physicians around the world who have made a significant impact on the health of individuals and communities, through their personal contribution to healthcare and the medical profession.

This year, Dr Mariolis has been honoured for his health work in both the urban and rural areas of Greece, such as Mani.

“Looking daily through the window of patients, who are now illuminated by this award, the need for new human values ​​arises,” Dr Mariolis said after receiving the distinction.

“We must all work hard and decisively to paint a brighter sun all over the world, which will spread its warmth everywhere, for the Primary Health Care sector and the family doctor.”

Dr Mariolis has also been named the ‘Best Family Doctor in Europe’ for 2019 and since September 2020, has been a member of the Committee of Experts of the Ministry of Health.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens has teamed up with The Happy Act to make its institution more friendly to visitors with autism.

Christos Karakatsidis, who co-founded The Happy Act with his sister Maria, said the project would be a “challenge” due to the large size of the museum and its exhibits.

The project entailed identifying sources of visual and aural stimulation, as certain sounds and lights can trigger adverse reactions in people with autism.

From there, the museum would be provided with signposts containing information and warnings regarding the intensity and quality of sensory stimulation at every exhibit and space.

The Happy Act also plans on working with businesses to make them more accessible to customers on the spectrum.

This may entail simple changes like altering the air freshener they use or creating a quiet space for customers experiencing a sensory overload, or more demanding ones, like training staff how to approach customers in distress.

Source: Ekathimerini.

Turkey has rebuffed comments made on Tuesday by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and said Athens is to blame for tensions in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.

“The antagonistic statements against Turkey… made almost every day are populist, unserving of peace and stability as well as being totally detached from reality,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tanju Bilgic, said in a statement.

Bilgic also said that “this provocative rhetoric is neither compatible with good neighbourly relations nor with the spirit of consultative talks we have relaunched with Greece.” 

“These delusions of Dendias prove that Greece prefers tension by creating artificial alliances and relying on favours of third parties against Turkey instead of resolving its bilateral issues and developing relations through an honest and meaningful dialogue with Turkey,” the statement continued.

“Countries which have self confidence do not display such [an] attitude.”

Greece’s Foreign Ministry have already responded to this statement, shrugging off the allegations as paradoxical and accusing Ankara of challenging the country’s territorial integrity.

“Greece will continue to build ties with neighbouring and other countries in the context of respect for international law and good neighbourly relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexandros Papaioannou, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Papoiannou urged Turkey to also “respect these fundamental principles.”

READ MORE: Greek Foreign Minister informs US State Department about Turkey’s ‘provocative’ actions.

Source: Ekathimerini.