Boston.- (GreekNewsOnline, ANA-MPA)

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America thanked the Greek government for its 2mln euro annual donation to the Hellenic College Holy Cross (HCHC) in Boston, the accredited Orthodox Christian College, School of Theology and Seminary in the US, in a post on social media on Friday.

On Twitter, the Archbishop wrote in English: “With the tremendous generosity of the Hellenic Republic to HCHC Boston, I am delighted to host Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou on the campus today and share with her and the People of Greece the progress at our premier institution in America.”

The donation was presented by Greek Ambassador to the US Alexandra Papadopoulou during her visit to the college on Friday and the lunch held by HCHC to honor both her and Archbishop Elpidophoros.

As the Archbishop of America pointed out in statements “this is a significant investment of mother Greece to her children in the Diaspora, which shows the spiritual, national and linguistic ties between us.”

On St Iakovos Feast Day, Archbishop Elpidophoros visited the graveside of the late Archbishop of North and South America. In a post to his twitter account he said:

“As we celebrated St. Iakovos, we remembered Archbishop Iakovos and his 37-year archpastoral ministry as Archbishop of North and South America. I was glad to be at @HCHCBoston  so that I could pray at his graveside yesterday. Eternal Memory!”

A dispatch by Athens News Agency claims that the donation to HCHC was an initiative of former Deputy Minister for Diaspora Greeks Antonis Diamataris. But Mr. Diamataris had already resigned from the Ministry, when the announcement was made by Archbishop Elpidophoros, on January 8, 2020, in Washington.

Speaking at a luncheon organized by leading Greek American organizations, in honor of the Prime Minister, on Wednesday, January 8, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America thanked Kyriakos Mitsotakis, without mentioning Mr. Diamataris.

“I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the momentous investment of Hellas in our Theological School – an annual grant of two million euros per year

commencing last year. This commitment of Mother Greece to her children in the Diaspora is particularly significant, because it demonstrates the spiritual as well as ethnic and linguistic ties between us. It creates a fellowship in the Diaspora of ὁμογἀλακτοι, those who have been nurtured by the same Mother. And just as our Mother Church is the Most Holy See of Constantinople, led by our intrepid Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, our culture and civilization – as is true for the rest of the Western World – is Greece”, Elpidophoros said.