Orthodox Leader Going to Cuba at Castro's Invitation

HAVANA, JAN. 15, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to Cuba next week at the invitation of President Fidel Castro to consecrate a cathedral, an Orthodox Church leader said.

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The spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians will arrive next Wednesday and consecrate the cathedral on Jan. 25, said Metropolitan Athenagoras of Panama and Central America, which includes the Caribbean, according to the Associated Press.

The St. Nicholas Cathedral was built with government funds on one side of the Byzantine-style Basilica of San Francisco, a former Catholic sanctuary now used mostly for concerts.

There are some 1,200 practicing Orthodox Christians in Cuba.

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