On Sunday morning, the former Metropolitan Monastery of Saint Charalambos Cesme, which, after its restoration by the Turkish State, is used as a place for cultural events, was overcrowded by hundreds of pilgrims from Chios and Thessaloniki.
This year, for the second time after the persecution and Catastrophe of 1922, the Turkish Authorities allowed the celebration of Divine Liturgy (the first one took place in 2016), something that was known early on, and thus the Holy Monastery was overwhelmed by pilgrims.
Saturday morning already, dozens of pilgrims came from Thessaloniki in the occasion of the presence of Metropolitan Ioustinos of New Krini and Kalamaria, who co-celebrated along with the Metropolitan of Smyrna Bartholomew.
In his message, the Ecumenical Patriarch focused on the need for friendship and cooperation between the two peoples, as it was expressed during the recent meeting between prime minister of Greece Alexis Chipras and president of Turkey Regep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Patriarch also urged the young generation of Greece to keep alive the history, customs and morality of Romiosyne that was left behind and flourished at the coastlands of Asia Minor.
Shortly before the ending of the Divine Liturgy, the Metropolitan of Smyrna gave the Ecumenical Patriarch a true copy of the image of Holy Mary of the New Monastery of Chios, as a symbol of unity between Asia Minor and the islands of the East Aegean.
