The Mount Athos Foundation of America opens an appeal for the Ormylia Foundation’s Project to provide care for homeless children and you in Northern Greece

The Convent of Ormylia, located in Chalkidike, is a dependency of the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra on Mount Athos. Ormylia operates a charitable foundation which is dedicated to providing high quality medical and spiritual care to underprivileged women and children. Currently, this foundation aims to expand its outreach by locating and supporting homeless children and youth in Northern Greece. Click the link below to learn how you can help.

The Convent of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, also known as the Ormylia Monastery, is one of the most significant women’s monasteries in Greece. It is located at the foot of Mount Holomontas near the entrance to the peninsula of Mount Athos.

The monastery was founded in 1974 as a dependency of the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra on Mount Athos, under the spiritual guidance of the Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra. Currently, Ormylia houses more than 100 nuns, who are engaged in various activities, such as iconography, agriculture and offering hospitality to visiting pilgrims.

In 1982 Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra founded the Monastery Medical Center of the Panagia Philanthropini, a foundation under the auspices of Ormylia which is called the Ormylia Foundation. The Center’s mission is to convey the love of God through medical and spiritual care to all persons, regardless of nationality, race, gender or creed. Since 1990 the Center has operated a modern facility, pictured above, to provide high quality medical care to underprivileged women and children. Specifically, the Center’s staff in Northern Greece has performed more than 180,000 mammograms to screen for breast cancer, and more than 80,000 gynecological examinations to screen for cervical cancer.

The Center also provides medical care, spiritual and social support to needy children, including children from economically poor villages in Central Macedonia, and Roma and Gypsy children. The Center has also stepped in to help trafficked children from the Middle East and other war-torn regions, such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.

In early 2024 the Ormylia Foundation established a program called the Child Protection Program, to provide quality pediatric care to unaccompanied children and adolescents, victims of war, and underprivileged children from the countryside. This program is being implemented in collaboration with pediatricians, psychologists, physician assistants, nurses and social workers.

The program expects to examine and treat more than 1,000 children per year.

In addition, the Child Care Protection Program’s goal is to reach and support homeless children and youth living rough in the countryside and on the streets. The Program’s staff aim is to gain the trust of these disadvantaged youth, in order to guide them into modalities that will give them a chance for a healthy, holistic, productive and hope-filled life. To that end, the Program is developing a team of social workers who will be tasked with identifying locations where homeless youth live, and convincing these fragile youth to seek care and treatment at the Program’s facilities.

The Program aims to hire pediatricians to conduct thorough physical exams, including blood and urine testing in accordance with universal pediatric guidelines. Physical exam and testing results will be confidentially retained by the Program for future reference, and referrals will be made to hospitals in Thessaloniki for those youth who require more specialized care. The Program also hopes to make available a specially trained psychologist for breakout sessions and private consultations during the youths’ visits.

In the climate of joy and optimism during their stay at the Program’s facility, children will have the opportunity to participate in rewarding and enjoyable organized activities such as sports, art and music. The children will also be encouraged to attend church services and counseling sessions, to foster their spiritual and emotional well-being.

Please visit the Foundation’s website for more information about its exciting programs, visit www.ormyliafoundation.gr. To view the content in English, click on English flag in the upper right-hand corner of the home page.