Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended a church service Friday marking the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, one of the most important holidays in the Greek Orthodox calendar, at a monastery near Hania on the island of Crete.
Speaking after the service, Mitsotakis urged Greeks to remember firefighters, volunteers, armed forces personnel and local government workers battling wildfires across the country during the summer.
He said the holiday was a time for reflection and drawing strength from faith, but also an opportunity to spend quiet moments with loved ones.
Mitsotakis later toured the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Varypetro and met with its abbess and nuns.
Other political leaders also marked the holiday with messages emphasizing faith, solidarity and national unity. PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis called for Greeks to stand by one another with “solidarity and humanity,” saying hope and unity could help build a stronger and fairer Greece.
