September 3, 2013

The Consecration of the First Church Dedicated to the Prophet Moses in Greece


According to Romfea.gr, on Wednesday 4 September 2013, which is the day we commemorate the Holy Prophet Moses, the first church in Greece will be consecrated that is dedicated to this great prophet of Sinai.

This grand three-domed church is located at the Eurosinaitic Centre of Studies and Communications and Exhibitions in the area of Tragana of the Municipality of Atalanti of the Region of Fthiotida in the central Greek mainland (132 km from Athens). It was built by the Mount Sinai Foundation.

The consecration will be performed by Metropolitan Nicholas of Fthiotida, with the participation of Archbishop Damianos of Sinai (Abbot of the Monastery of Sinai and Chairman of the Mount Sinai Foundation, who celebrates 40 years of primacy), among other Hierarchs and Clergy.

During these difficult times as they are being experienced in the Middle East and Egypt,  as they strongly demand for a well-intended democracy, the Monastery of Sinai with this consecration ceremony, among other things, reminds everyone of their experience in their dialogue and peaceful co-existence with peoples of different religious communities as they have cohabited harmoniously over the centuries with their Muslim Bedouin neighbors.

But with the difficult situation Greece finds itself in, with a long-range development project like the Eurosinaitic Center, we wish to emphasize the need for an optimistic perspective and to struggle in the belief that this is a spiritual, cultural and humanitarian project and is not an ornament and luxury, but a necessity and a priority.

The Mount Sinai Foundation

The Mount Sinai Foundation in Athens, Greece is a non-profit organization that helps the Holy Monastery at Sinai in the coordination of activities aimed at the protection, the study, and the appreciation of the monuments of Sinaitic heritage. For the materialization of a part of the forementioned objectives of the Mount Sinai Foundation, it is building the complex of The Eurosinaitic Centre of Studies and Communications and Exhibitions in the area of Tragana of the Municipality of Atalanti of the Region of Fthiotida in the central Greek mainland, from where it will be easy to have access to the data of the Sinaitic Monuments Archive in digital form, and in combination with the organization of exhibitions of Sinai monuments, elements of the popular Bedouin tradition along with relative scientific and educational one-day meetings and programmes in parallel with projections of virtual reality productions in multimedia that will make reference to the Sinaitic tradition and heritage. In northern Greece, in Macedonia and more particularly in the area of Thessaloniki, it reinforces the activities of the Association of The Friends of the Monastery of Sinai in its endeavors aiming at the creation of a cultural and a spiritual Sinaitic centre.