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Published
by the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
August 16, 2005
Archons to Honor
Mikhail Gorbachev with Athenagoras Human
Rights Award |
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August 16, 2005
New York, NY- Former USSR President Mikhail
Gorbachev will be honored with the 2005
Athenagoras Human Rights Award by The Order of
St. Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate in America at the New York Hilton
on October 22, according to His Eminence
Archbishop Demetrios, Archbishop of America and
Exarch of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Dr. Anthony Limberakis, the Order's National
Commander, said Gorbachev is recognized as a
world statesman today who was instrumental in
ending the Cold War and in promoting religious
liberty.
The former Soviet leader currently contributes
to international affairs through the Gorbachev
Foundation, the first independent think tank in
post-Soviet Russia, which he created in 1992,
according to Archon George Behrakis, who serves
on the Foundation and arranged the presentation
of the Athenagoras Award.
The main mission of the Foundation is to provide
in-depth analysis of the evolving social,
economic and political situation in Russia and
the world. With branches in major cities of the
Russian Federation, the Foundation has channeled
more than $10 million to various humanitarian
programs in Russia, particularly in the area of
childhood leukemia.
The Order bestows the Athenagoras Human Rights
Award each year during its annual meeting in
October. Former recipients of this honor are
Presidents Jimmy Carter and George Herbert
Walker Bush, Mother Theresa, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and the late Archbishop Iakovos.
Known chiefly for his contribution to tearing
down the Iron Curtain, Gorbachev was born in
1931 and ascended to power in Soviet Russia's
Communist Party throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Following the death of Konstantin Chernenko in
1985, Gorbachev was appointed general secretary,
despite being the youngest member of the
politburo. He embarked on a comprehensive
program of political, economic, and social
liberalization under the slogans of glasnost
("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring").
The resulting shift in international affairs and
thinking contributed to a fundamental change in
the international environment and played a
prominent role in ending the Cold War, stopping
the arms race and eradicating the threat of a
nuclear war. He stepped down as Head of State in
1991.
In recognition of his outstanding services as a
great reformer and world political leader, who
greatly contributed in changing for the better
the very nature of world development, Mikhail
Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
October 15, 1990.
Gorbachev has received scores of other awards
and honors, including the Gold Medal from the
Prometheus National Technological University of
Athens and the Gold Medal of Thessaloniki, both
in 1993, the Martin Luther King International
Peace Award "For a Non-Violent World" for
contribution to world peace and human rights in
1991, and the Sir Winston Churchill Award to
recognize contribution to peace in the Middle
East in 1993.
Baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith,
Gorbachev was instrumental in the adoption of
legislation that guaranteed religious freedom in
the waning days of the former Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, which policies were
perpetuated in today's Russian Republic.
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