On Tuesday, 10 December 2019, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Alkiviadis Stefanis, attended an event on the presentation of the Missionary Work of the Holy Archdiocese of Zambia, held by the Friends Association of the Holy Archdiocese of Zambia “O Sporeas”, in the Hellenic Armed Forces Officers Club.

The Deputy Minister of National Defence, in his address, stated the following:

“It is a great respect and honour to be here today, in the event of the presentation of the Missionary Work of the Holy Archdiocese of Zambia.

It is a Holy Archdiocese with a multidimensional work, distinguished by the creative composition of both the Gospel and the Greek-Orthodox Church, and the culture, and it undoubtedly constitutes a dialectical course of intercultural dialogue and intercultural coexistence. This course projects and spreads not only our religion, but the human values that our Greek culture stands for, as well.

Your Eminence, addressing You personally, I would like to stress that your outstanding work gets even greater value, given the situation you face everyday, in a wide geographical area of increasing political, financial and environmental uncertainty, and of hard and dangerous living conditions.

There is no doubt that the Orthodox world has a historic duty to support your Missionary work, so that Orthodoxy can respond to the tremendous needs of the vast African Continent. The Missionary effort, outside the boundaries of Orthodoxy, is not an easy thing, to the contrary, it is a tremendous challenge.

We are certain that your faith, selflessness and hard work outweigh your limited assets and resources, as well as the difficulties you are confronted with.

As a member of the Armed Forces, I fully understand how you feel, when exercising your duties. The discipline, the love, the faith to the ideals, the devotion, are common ideas. They are ideas-beacons in our mission and our stance. So, our “common nature” is what preserves and reinforces our ever-lasting close relation, a relation that started long before the formation of our modern state. It is a joint struggle for the homeland; we are the leaders in defending our Nation’s ideals and in gaining our people’s trust.

We thank you for your work and we wish God give you strength and guide your steps.”