wfn.org | GOAA Mikhail Gorbachev Receives Athenagoras Humanitarian Award

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GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2005

ATHENAGORAS HUMANITARIAN AWARD TO
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

New York, NY - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of the
Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev was the recipient of the Athenagoras
Humanitarian Award of the Order of St. Andrew Archons of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate in an emotion filled evening, Saturday, October 22, at the New
York Hilton.  The Award was presented by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios
of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States and
the official representative of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew, the spiritual head of the worldâ??s 250 million Orthodox
faithful.

Established in 1986, the Athenagoras Award honors Patriarch Athenagoras who
served as Archbishop of the Americas for 18 years before being elected
Ecumenical Patriarch in 1948. He was universally acknowledged as a
visionary leader of Orthodoxy, numbering more than 250 million faithful
worldwide, who worked for peace among Churches and people throughout his
life. Previous recipients have included Archbishop Iakovos, President Jimmy
Carter, President George H.W. Bush, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa
and Elie Wiesel.

Accompanied by his daughter Irina Virganskaya, President Gorbachev received
an enthusiastic and warm reception as he entered a packed ballroom. In
1987, Gorbachev called for democratization in the Soviet Union, including
multi-candidate elections and the following year; he announced that the
Soviet Union would abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine and allow the Eastern Bloc
nations to determine their own internal affairs, greatly enhancing
democracy and liberty in these nations.  His law on religious freedom was
among his greatest democratic contributions enabling the citizens of
Russia, the 15 affiliated republics of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc
nations to freely practice their religion for the first time since the
Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist Party regimes.

 These, and other initiatives by President Gorbachev, significantly
contributed to the end of the Cold War. For his historic contribution to
world peace he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

 In a moving ceremony, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America
invested President Gorbachev, a baptized Orthodox Christian, as Archon
Great Orator of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on behalf of His All Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Archbishop Demetrios led a list of dignitaries extolling the honored guest.
They included, Ambassador Andrey Denisov, Permanent Mission of the Russian
Federation to the United Nations; Ambassador Evripides Evriviades,
Ambassador of Cyprus to the United States, Ambassador Alexandros Mallias,
Ambassador of Greece to the United States and Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis,
National Commander of the Order of St. Andrew.

 Melissa Nikitas, a 10th grade student from Saint Basil Academy, impressed
the audience with her rendition of the American and Greek National Anthems.
Former CIA Director George Tenet, Master of Ceremonies for the evening,
warmly introduced President Gorbachev.

 Archons Theodore Demetriou and Konstantine Velios introduced the 41 new
Archons to be installed the next morning, October 23,  at the Archdiocesan
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. These
included George Tenet, Andrew Natsios, Director of the US Agency for
International Development and Former Ambassador of the United States to
Spain George Argyros.