The Archdiocese of America has donated a new fire service vehicle to the Volunteer Fire Department of Penteli amidst wildfire season in Greece.
Mount Penteli, on the outskirts of the Athens metropolitan area, has suffered devastating forest fires in recent years, most often caused by extreme drought during the summer months.
Forest fires a global challenge from Greece to US
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a blessing ceremony for the new vehicle donated to the Penteli fire service on Friday morning, stressing the challenges of climate change on a global scale, from Greece to the US.
In statements at the event, the archbishop referred to God’s love of nature and mankind, as well as to the vindication of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s 35-year-effort to promote the need to care for the natural environment and its protection from pollution, fires, and other threats.
“When nature is destroyed, it is destroyed for all humanity, there are no borders. And we are experiencing this in the entire Mediterranean region, with climate change and how fire destroys everything around it. We are also experiencing this in California as well, where the most beautiful of its regions have been deserted. We also experienced that in Hawaii, that dreamland, of how an entire island was destroyed—the most amazing trees, the amazing forests in Hawaii are burned,” His Eminence said.
ATHENS, Greece — The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Greek-American community reaffirmed their enduring commitment to Greece through the donation of a new state-of-the-art firefighting vehicle to the Penteli Volunteer Fire Unit, strengthening the region’s ability to… pic.twitter.com/RDnjag48r4
— Orthodox Observer (@OrthoObserver) July 17, 2026
According to Secretary General of Civil Protection Nikos Papaefstathiou, attending the ceremony on behalf of the competent Greek Ministry, the Volunteer Fire Department of Penteli had responded to over 270 incidents over the year.
The ceremony was also attended by the Abbot of the Monastery of Penteli and Director of the Inter-Orthodox Centre of the Church of Greece, Metropolitan Ioannis of Thermopylae, officers of the Fire Department, and other representatives of the Greek state.
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