In the Cathedral of Athens, still closed to the public, the metropolitan bishop gave the so-called "Little message" in which he announces he wants to take the appointment. At the first round, the metropolitan bishop Ieronimos got 33 votes, Eustachios of Sparta 26, Anthimoes of Salonika 7, and Ignatios of Dimitriada 7, and there’s been a blank vote. At the second round, he got 43 votes, thus passing the set threshold of 37+1 votes. The election of the metropolitan bishop Ieronimos of Thebes shows, first and foremost says to SIR the archimandrite Ignazio Sotiriadis of the Orthodox Church of Greece to the European institutions , a "direction in favour of good relationships with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and then he said himself that we must respect the legacy of his predecessor. The metropolitan bishop also studied in Germany, in Ratisbon, on a scholarship of the German Bishops Conference. So he is quite open-minded and has been appointed at many levels. A very active man, he comes from a very lively diocese. He is certainly a man who will continue the work started by his predecessor".
