Monday , 15 May 2017A historical moment for Ellinair was the transportation of the holy relics of Saint Helena.
The historical moment for the whole of Greece was the transportation of the holy relics of St. Helena and the True Cross from Venice to Athens aboard one of Ellinair’s flights, that took place on Sunday, May 14th.
With due attention, Ellinair and the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Hellenic Orthodox Church, which initiated the transportation of the holy relics, united their efforts in order to perform this important mission, demanding, in terms of organization and technical implementation. Thus, at 06:30 am, on Sunday, an appropriately equipped Ellinair Airbus 319 began its journey from the city of Thessaloniki to Venice with a stop in Athens, where the representatives of the church, journalists and other invited guests joined the crew: Mr. Boris Mouzenidis, the head of the Mouzenidis Group mission and the president, and Mr. Ioannis Mouzenidis, the president of Ellinair, accompanied by Mr. S. Daliakas, the Commercial Director of the company, Mr. G. Masmanidis, the director of Mouzenidis Travel, and other representatives of the management of the group.
The first stop was in Venice, upon which the guests visited the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George. Subsequently, the Greek mission went to St. Mark's Cathedral where, in a particularly exciting atmosphere, the relics of St. Helena were brought to the representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church by the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. A solemn procession, commenced from the Cathedral of St. Mark, accompanied by TESSERA, the historical music group of Venice, which, without exaggeration, was a fascinating spectacle for everyone to watch.
The relics of St. Helena were carefully placed in a specially equipped for this purpose aircraft of Ellinair, to perform a journey that was emotionally and mentally unique for all passengers. At the Athens airport, the sacred relics were met by His Eminence Nicholas, is the Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki and Mr. P. Kamenos, the Defense Minister. The final destination was the Temple of St. Varvara in the area of Egaleo, in the Attica region, where all members of the mission of Mouzenidis Group participated in a thanksgiving service in the presence of Jerome II, the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, and Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos, the President of the Hellenic Republic.
In his official speech, Agathanghelos , the Bishop of Fanarion and the General Director of Apostoliki Diakonia of the Greek Orthodox Church, thanked the "pious family of Mr. Boris Mouzenidis for providing the Ellinair aircraft for the transportation of the holy relics."
Mr. Ioannis Mouzenidis, the president of Ellinair, in turn stated, "It is a great honor for Ellinair to take part in such an important event for Hellenism. We, in turn, invite all believing Greeks to visit the Temple of St. Varvara and bow to the relics of Saint Helena: a person who epitomizes a benchmark for the entire Christian world. "
