The Archbishop of Corfu and Thessaloniki speaks about his Marist education in Athens

“Thanks to the Marist Brothers, a light began to shine in me. It was the light of the call, like the light of a more specific and exclusive dedication to God”, said Archbishop Georges Altouvas, Metropolitan of Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia, Greece, during his episcopal ordination on 7 February 2021 in the Cathedral of St. Dionysius the Areopagite in Athens.

“I would like to speak about my school, Lycée Léonin – Marist College of Athens – which provided me with many spiritual experiences. Certainly, schools are not only the buildings, but above all the people who make it up and the education it offers. I include here my teachers, but above all the Marist Brothers, who sowed in me the spiritual virtues of simplicity, humility and modesty,” said the Greek Catholic Archbishop, a former Marist student and teacher at the Marist schools of Athens (Lycée Léonin of Néa Smynri and Lycée Léonin of Patissia).

During his visit to the community, he recalled the vocation camps, his spiritual days and his pilgrimages to the Marist Places, to the Hermitage. Referring to his Marist formation, Mgr Georges Altouvas pointed out, in a special way, that on his episcopal mitre he has placed “the three Marist violets”, symbols of simplicity, humility and modesty, the three Marial virtues which come to us from Marcellin Champagnat.

The now Metropolitan Archbishop of Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia and Apostolic Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Thessaloniki, was a pupil in primary and secondary school at the “Leontios” College in Patissa, from the age of 6 (1979 – 1991). In 1992, after 12 years of Marist education, Mgr Georges moved to Rome to follow his vocation to the priesthood.