On Thursday, October 7, 2010, Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate joined hundreds of other participants in the Grand Opening Ceremony for the VIII Annual World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” held at the historic historic Kastello Castle in the Old City of Rhodes.
The opening ceremony was led by Mr. Vladimir I. Yakunin, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the St Andrew the First Called Foundation and the Center for the National Glory of Russia and also Co-Chairman and Founding President of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” who welcomed all to this year’s Forum. Following Vladimir Yakunin’s words, the other co-chairmen of the WPF, Mr. Nicholas Papanicolaou, Mr. Alfred Gusenbauer and Mr. Jagdish Kapur also were given the opportunity to offer words of welcome to the forum’s participants. Likewise, the Mayor of the town of Rhodes also offered a warm welcome to the assembled guests.
Following the official speeches presented at the Grand Opening Ceremony, the guests had the opportunity to share in informal conversation with one another during a concert of Greek Folk Music by a local ensemble.
