Jerusalem-Beirut, 1948

Abstract

In June 1945 a memorable event in my life took place. In a very simple and informal ceremony Patriarch Timotheos handed the students in my class the Diploma of the Patriarchate's Gymnasium (secondary school). At his residence (exactly in the same hall and at the same spot where fifteen years later the Historic Meetings of the Patriarchs Athenagoras of Constantinople, Benedictos of Jerusalem and Pope Paul VI took place) on the Mount of Olives, he blessed us in a fatherly manner and wished us a happy and fruitful future. At that moment, both our future and that of the country's looked uncertain and difficult. I, however, had to make up my mind and choose the course of my life, and after much hesitation I reluctantly decided to accept my father's wishes and my brother's advice to study dentistry. That would make three dentists in the same family which were too many, but I was too young then and unable to make firm decisions and choices by myself. I said to myself that at a later stage I might change courses. But the local political developments never gave me the luxury to opt for something else.