EOC Patriarch Receives Highest-honor Portuguese, Spanish Medal

Addis Ababa, November 25, 2009 - Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) Abune Paulos receives on Tuesday 24th November the ‘Highest-Honor Portuguese and Spanish Medal’ for his outstanding contributions toward ensuring peace and mutual co-existence among the peoples of the world, the patriarchate private secretariat disclosed.

Abune Paulos, who is also one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, has been making remarkable contributions toward ensuring peace, tolerance, and mutual co-existence at global level, according to the statement of the secretariat sent to ENA.

Hence, the statement said, the two countries honored the patriarch with the medal for his exemplary deeds in the area of ensuring peace, stability and friendship worldwide.

Handing over the medal, head of the delegation Major, Jose Augusto said the peoples of the two countries attach due respect to the medal, which is the highest-honor medal in Portugal and Spain.

Major Jose Augusto said Portugal and Spain are desirous to bolster bilateral relations with Ethiopia in the years ahead. Especially, he said, the countries will be working together with the church in assisting orphans in Ethiopia.

After receiving the medal, the patriarch said his church will exert utmost efforts toward scaling up the existing bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and the two European countries to a higher level.

The patriarch also received messages sent from Portuguese and Spanish royal families, according to the statement.

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Source:
The Ethiopian News Agency

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