George C. Rockas, Esq., Archon Dikaiophylax, was the Convener of the first session of the 4th International Conference on Religious Freedom on May 27. The theme of the Conference, presented by the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is ‘Protecting Religious Freedom, Democracy & Human Rights’, and the featured speaker of the session on Monday afternoon in the Chamber of the Old Greek Parliament building was the Archbishop of Vilnius(Lithuania) Gintaras Grusas.
William S. Antholis, Archon Prostatis ton Gramaton, Director and CEO of the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia and Past Managing Director of the renowned Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, was the moderator. He asked questions of the Archbishop and later led the Q&A.
One of the highlights of the session was hearing the personal story of The Archbishop, whose mother and sister were among the lucky few who were allowed to leave the Soviet Union in 1960 and immigrated to the United States, where he was born the following year. Despite never having lived there, he was tasked by Pope John Paul II with the preparations for the latter’s visit to Lithuania since he spoke the language.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Christophe Meneboeuf
