The Greek Bible Society of Greece has announced that the country's three major Christian denominations, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, will be distributing 50,000 copies of a scripture portion to be called "The Apostle Paul in Greece" during the 2004 Olympic Games to be held in Athens from August 13 to 29.
Based on the account of Paul's visit to Greece in Chapters 16 to 20 from the Book of Acts in the Bible, this multilingual scripture portion edition, with illustrations of Greek Artist Stamatis Skliris, contains the texts in eleven languages - Greek, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
Through this multilingual edition the Bible Society wishes to highlight the global character not only of the Games but also of the race to spread the Christian faith.In addition, the Bible Society of Greece has also produced two other publications; an English New Testament in the Good News translation will be distributed in the athlete's village by Games Chaplains. 20,000 copies are being printed.
And thirdly, 7,000 copies of a Greek New Testament in "Today's Greek Version" will be sold for Euro 5.00. Some churches have already bought more than 3,000 copies at discount prices in order to distribute them at no charge to their own congregations.
The Greek Bible Society is also organising a Bible Expo called "The Bible - the contest of Hope" to be held in Volos where the Olympic football matches will take place. This event is under the auspices of the local Metropolis. The Expo starts on July 27 and will run until the end of October. This will give students from all local schools the opportunity to visit the Expo as well.
Greece has a strong Christian heritage since the vast majority of the population (97%) are Christians.
