Messages of unity, fortitude on Epiphany

He arrived on the island in a military helicopter, from the airport of Kos, accompanied by Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and was welcomed by local authorities.

“All together we must overcome the last difficult measures of this crisis,” he said.
The blessing was carried out by the metropolitan of Leros, Kalymnos

and Astypalea Paisios. President Papoulias talked after the ceremony with inhabitants of the island on special problems they are facing.

President Papoulias then went to the island of Pserimos in a helicopter, an island that had suffered severely from bad weather last November and where damage had been caused, mainly for infrastructure projects. He was due to hold meetings with inhabitants and local agency representatives. Later in the day, President Papaoulias will be going to the island of Kalymnos where a luncheon will be hosted in his honour by the Kalymnos municipality.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras attended the Epiphany celebration in the city of Kalamata, Peloponnese, together with local political, military and judicial authorities, as well as large crowds of people.

The blessing of the waters ceremony was held at the port where many young men, as well as women, jumped into the sea to collect the cross.

Samaras, accompanied by Kalamata mayor Panayiotis Nikas, went to the Moreas workshop and was briefed on the construction of the Nedontas bridge and the completion of the Kalamata perimetric motorway.

He also visited the Chorou mansion, that was completed last summer, that will serve culture and be able to host conferences and other events.

Samaras arrived in the city on Sunday and hosted a dinner at a coastal restaurant in Kalamata for Messinia Metropolitan Chrysostomos, Peloponnese regional governor Petros Tatoulis, the deputies of his New Democracy party in the prefecture and the mayors of Messinia.

Source: AMNA