As of: February 28, 2024, 4:17 p.m
By: Annemarie Göbbel
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After a cancer diagnosis, good advice is expensive.
King Charles also sought spiritual exchange with Elder Ephraim, a Greek Orthodox abbot.
London – King Charles (75) was born with an interest in the Orthodox Church.
His father, Prince Philip (99, †2021), was baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, but later converted to Anglicanism before marrying Princess Elizabeth II (96, †2022), the future Queen.
In view of his cancer diagnosis, the regent was drawn back to his roots; according to
The Telegraph
, he contacted his friend, the archimandrite Elder Ephraim (67), and sought spiritual advice.
In crisis, King Charles turns to Archimandrite Ephraim for spiritual advice, it is said
Ephraim of Vatopedi (born 1956 as Vasilios Koutsou) is a Greek Cypriot Orthodox Christian hieromonk (monk-priest) and archimandrite (honorary title roughly equivalent to the rank of Apt).
He is currently abbot of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos.
King Charles is said to have visited the monk there eight times. According to the Greek press, he even has his own quarters there.
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The monarch has long had a deep fascination with all religious faiths, from Islam to Buddhism, and has also worked to bring together diverse faith leaders.
The king's interest in the Orthodox Church has also led him to work in defense of persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
He helped raise money for several Orthodox treasures and also saved his father's palace.
Elder Ephraim said he had spoken to the monarch.
King Charles has made contact
Archimandrite Ephraim (left) and King Charles reportedly became friends at the end of the 1990s (photomontage).
© ITAR-TASS/dpa & Jacob King/dpa
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“Yes, he has been in contact since the diagnosis and I believe he will overcome it,” reports the priest.
“Charles has a spiritual sophistication, a spiritual life,” he further told a Greek newspaper and a Greek television station.
Charles and he became friends in the late 1990s when the king visited Elder Ephraim's Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece several times.
The archimandrite called their relationship a “very good relationship.”
At his coronation last May, a Greek choir played Psalm 71 in Greek in honor of his paternal legacy.
The monarch was also anointed with chrism oil that came from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where Charles' paternal grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg (84, † 1969), is buried.
The fact is that the king could miss the memorial service for his close friend and second cousin, King Constantine of Greece (82, † 2023), because of his cancer treatment, but it is said that he will try to attend the lunch.
Sources used:
orthochristian.com, telegraph.co.uk,
lavanguardia.com