Praying for Archbishop Christodoulos

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece is seriously ill. I thought it wasn't anything serious until I saw the title of a Greek newspaper last Sunday: "Alone with God", and his photo.
When he was elected Archbishop in 1998 (the youngest ever at 59 years old), many people -especially atheists-made fun of him. They continued discrediting him and shedding poison on each and every effort he made.

In one of his first sermons, when he was elected he repeatedly said "Come as you are", encouraging people, especially young people, to go to church no matter how they were told they should be in order to go to church. At first I thought it was wrong. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it was an important message.

I think we are very blessed to be born within a church that goes back to the ancient roots of Christianity, preserving its traditions, and being faithful to the last iota.
However, sometimes I feel that the G.O.Church needs to introduce some more joy into people's lives. I know it may sound like heresy, but I do not think people today want to look to the afterlife for hope, or want to go to church to listen to promises about their life after death. They want to have a church caring for their wordly needs and preoccupations as well, for their troubles at home with their children and spouses, for their insecurities at work and within an unstable world, not just for their afterlife. And in that I think the GO Church has been left behind in answering the needs of its people.
Also, I must say that most of its clergymen are poorly educated in matters of theology and sociology, which makes it difficult for them to keep up with society as it develops.

Archbishop Christodoulos tried to bridge traditions with the needs of the people today. He went to schools himself, spoke to the young on live shows in the radio, and so on.

I do not know him personally and I am not in touch with religious practice right now. We follow the Christian feasts as a family, but we are not part of a parish.

However, I believe that it will be a loss to the Church if he passes away so soon. He has done so much in promoting the understanding between the Christian Churches, welcoming the late Pope John Paul II in Greece for the first time, and being close with the new Pope Benedict.

I pray for his health, for his soul and for his ideas and work.