Corfu, Greece, May 5, 2023
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
Despite the attempts of the local prosecutor, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Corfu was again acquitted of all charges of violating COVID restrictions in 2020.
His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios was charged after celebrating the Divine Liturgy and holding a procession in honor of St. Spyridon on the feast of Palm Sunday three years ago. That October, he was acquitted of all charges.
And yesterday, the three-member Criminal Court of Corfu upheld this earlier ruling, closing the case definitively, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
In his statement to journalists, Met. Nektarios emphasized that “the Justice has shown that he shares and understands the love of Corfu and the people of Corfu for St. Spyridon and that he will always do his duty by doing his duty and loving the country and serving it until the end of his life.”
Other hierarchs have also been acquitted of COVID-related charges.
In November 2022, His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira of the Church of Greece was acquitted of all charges related to celebrating the services during the lockdown.
In February 2023, His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro of the Seerbian Orthodox Church and eight priests from Nikšić were also acquitted of charges from 2020.
And in April 2023, His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou of the Church of Cyprus was acquitted of charges stemming from his blessing of a river on Theophany in 2021.
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