Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, currently on a visit to the monastic community of Mt Athos, attended at dawn on Saturday the divine liturgy at the Monastery of Simonos Petras (Simonopetra), where he had stayed overnight with his son Konstantinos.

According to government sources, the monks held a brief service at the end of the liturgy in memory of Konstantinos and Marika Mitsotakis and of Pavlos Bakoyannis, the PM's parents and brother-in-law, respectively. The names of the premier's parents are included in a list of the monastery's benefactors for the help offered to it after the catastrophic fire of 1990.

The religious ceremonies were followed by the formal welcome of the prime minister by members of the Simonopetra Monastery, with a welcoming address by Abbot Elissaios and a response by Mitsotakis. According to the sources, the Abbot of Simonopetra mentioned the contributions to the monastery by the premier's parents and his own to Mt Athos. 

Mitsotakis then paid a visit to Xenophontos Monastery at the monastic community, where he was welcomed with the appropriate honors by Abbot Alexios and the representative of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Metropolitan Apostolos of Miletus, government sources said.

(Story updated)

(Photo by PM's office/D. Papamitsos)