SIMELA PANTZARTZI/ANA

A worshipper bows before Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday in front of his house in Palaio Psychico, northern Athens. Premier Costas Karamanlis and PASOK leader George Papandreou both paid visits to the archbishop yesterday before his trip to Miami for a liver transplant.

Archbishop Christodoulos will leave for the USA this morning confident that his liver transplant surgery will be a success and happy to get away from the election race, he told reporters yesterday.

“I will not miss the elections, just as all Greeks will not long for them after yesterday’s destruction on Mount Pendeli,” said the archbishop.

Christodoulos is due to leave for Miami at 9 a.m. today in the prime-ministerial jet. He will undergo medical checks on Monday at Jackson Memorial Hospital and then wait until a suitable liver is found. Greek-American doctor Andreas Tzakis will carry out the operation.

“I will carry the love of the people with me and I am sure that God will help me so that everything goes well,” said Christodoulos. The head of the Church of Greece spent 41 days in the hospital in Athens, where he was diagnosed with liver cancer.

“A testing experience like this makes one humbler and able to see life from a different perspective,” he said.