The island of Imbros is an ancient Greek island in the Aegean Sea, not far from Limnos and Samothraki. It geographically belongs to the Thracian Sporades together with the island of Tenedos in close proximity next to the Asia Minor beach opposite Troy. It is an ancient historical Greek island, an ally of the ancient Athenians. From Alexandroupoli it is easily accessible by sea, but the coastal lines with the neighbor are prohibited. Whenever we follow the road from Alexandroupoli by road through the Ipsala Gardens Customs Office. From there crossing the Evros bridge we reach Kessani and from there heading towards Gallipoli Dardanelles by road we reach the Port of Kabatepe two hours by car from Alexandroupoli. At a distance of one hour from the port by boat, Imbros awaits us welcomingly. The island is beautiful, the seagulls accompany us, Samothraki is within a breath's distance, greeting its separated sister for a hundred years since Imbros was united with Greece in 1913, but due to the Asia Minor disaster, it was ceded to Turkey with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and since then the Greek an orthodox population of 8500 inhabitants was shrunk by the Turkish authorities to just 300 Greek Romans while the Turks exceeded 10.000. A Greek kindergarten and primary school with 24 children and a Greek high school with 34 Greek children operate on the island. The metropolis is shepherded by Metropolitan Cyril who belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with its headquarters in Panagia. TENEDOS also belongs to the same Diocese. Blessed islands that were once full of life and Hellenism, today the Greeks have been drastically reduced in recent years, but with the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, there is a tendency to return the new generation that primarily resides in Athens and Thessaloniki. In the summers, the island is full of life and joy blooms. lips of its isolated Greek inhabitants.
The meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch in the birthplace of Agios Theodoros of IMBROU is a festive scene. The village on an uphill slope testifies to its aristocratic Thracian origin which in the decade of 1959-1960 counted more than 600 Roman souls with 60 or more Greek student souls. Among them was the YOUNG then Dimitrios Archontonis, today's Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. BARTHOLOMAIOS. We go to meet him with the businessman Mr. Angelos ANDROULAKIS and my son Christos head of the INTELLECTUAL CREATIVE ECOHELLODIA. We are waiting on the uphill side of the upper palace 100 meters from the cafe of blessed Christos Archontonis, father of the Ecumenical Patriarch, directly across from the house of the blessed Archbishop of America Iakovos Kourousis. We meet a kind gentleman with gray hair who welcomes us with a smile and wishes us a happy new year.
He introduces himself to us - I am Antonis Brother of the Patriarch. Simple and smiling THRACIOTIAN. I remember then that I have written about him in my book ECCLESIASTICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEUS APOSTOLIC MINISTRY. I even have a family photo of them with their father the late Christos Archontonis, their mother the late Meropi Archontonis nee Skarlatou, his late sister ZACHAROULA, their brother Nikolaos who currently lives in Australia, and of course the third son, the then young Dimitrios Archontonis and today Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. He tells us about their childhood. The coffee shop's father Christos was such a sweet and gentle father. Their mother Meropi who always made sure they didn't MISS anything with her good food, Thracian pies, eggs from the goats and milk from the goats she grew in the yard. He also remembers a forced migration of the family to Samothrace where they sought refuge in the years of the second world war to escape the fury of the Germans. There the Samothracians treated them as if they were their brothers. Antonios, called Benjamin of the family, was not born then, but he remembers them very well and his brother Dimitrios, today Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEOS, described them to him. Today Antonios lives with his family in France near the Swiss border at a distance of 15 minutes from the theological center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chamois, Switzerland. His daughter is a top executive in a Dutch bank and his son a winter sports teacher. Giscard d'Estaing, who fought so hard for Greece to become the tenth member of the European Union, talks to us about the presidents of France. Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and EMMANUEL Macron. Today Antonios celebrates his 81st year of life. We wish him to succeed.
The Ecumenical Patriarch makes his appearance. Simple Infinitive. He wears his tankard and his cap. He greets us benevolent and open-hearted. Welcome my children! With your blessing, Your Holiness. We present him with the medal of the Philological Society of Parnassos and a handwritten letter from the President of the Philological Society of Parnassos, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Peloponnese Mr. Vasileios Konstantinopoulos, inviting him to visit us in Athens, to honor us with a speech from the podium of the Philological Society of Parnassos where they spoke the colossians of politics and Letters such as Venizelos, Vikelas, Pierre De Coubertin who announced from this stage the modern Olympic Games of 1896, Georges Clemenceau, Churchill and many others.
We also SUGGEST him to help us in sponsoring two scholarships to two outstanding students of IMBROU Primary School and two students of IMBROU High School.
Finally, we give him the draft of our book from ELLODIA publications, which he accepts with joy and emotion. Its title is Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's Apostolic Ministry. Contains 125 poems with vertical VERSION BARTHOLOMEUS and universal rhyme in all verses.
The poetic poem also contains 125 photographs in color form from the 34-year Patriarchal ministry including their family photograph with his parents Christos and Meropis and his siblings Zacharoula, Nikolaos and the so-called Benjamin of the family Antonios and of course the Patriarch himself young Dimitrios at the time in the middle
His LOOK moves. We ask him to give us a blessing to publish the book with his own foreword. His smile is a positive response to our request. He gives us a rosary and his blessing. We are sure that his blessing will guide us in our every step and protect us from any mishap.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Your Grace
We hope that your ministry to the Orthodox OIKOUMENI will continue generously in the coming years, which we are sure that the Lord will continue to bless you for a long time.
Dr. Stamatios Chr. Georgoulis – Professor of International Law Agioi Theodoroi IMBROU
