Memory Eternal: +Christodoulos Archbishop of Athens & All Greece

Archbishop +Christodoulos of Athens has reposed at the age of 69. As noted here previously His Beatitude had been gravely ill from the cancer that ultimately proved mortal for sometime. His death although not surprising, nonetheless leaves a hole in the Orthodox world. Under his administration the Greek Church moved to thaw the chilly relations with the Vatican that had existed seemingly forever. He also oversaw efforts to deal with several serious church scandals. +Christodoulos was generally seen as a conservative on moral and social issues and he resisted various efforts at modernization such as a suggestion to permit the use of modern Greek as opposed to the ancient in the celebration of the church liturgy. In public opinion polls for many years he almost invariably was ranked as the most popular man in Greece.

May his memory be eternal.

An update:The Greek government has declared four days of official mourning and ordered all schools and government offices to be closed on the day of the funeral. The funeral itself will be a state funeral with full honors. Long lines have begun forming in Athens for people to file by the funeral bier.