Holy Fire touches down in Athens (video)

The Holy Fire arrived at the Athens International Airport at 19.30 and was received with honours of a state leader during a special ceremony. The Holy Fire was lit earlier in Jerusalem where the an official  Greek governmental delegation received it and boarded on the Prime Ministerial airplane and flown back to Athens. The first stop from the airport will be the Church of Metochi in the Plaka district in downtown Athens, before The Light will be transported all Orthodox Christian Metropolis across the country.

After lighting the 33 candles with the the Holy Fire Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofillos III shared it with many pilgrims gathered in the Church courtyard. A special ceremony will take place at the airport tarmac before it is transported to Orthodox Metropolis across Greece. A Greek delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Amanatidis has departed for Jerusalem to bring back the Holy Light. The delegation is scheduled to land at the Ben Gurion airport and from there proceed to the old city of Jerusalem where it will meet with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofillos III of Jerusalem. It will then take part in the procession to the Holy Sepulchre to watch the lighting ceremony.