Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteicho, Orestiada, and Soufli, responding to a kind invitation of Metropolitan Kyprianos of Stara (Old) Zagora on the 5th and 6th of December 2023, visited the beautiful city of Stara Zagora (until the 8th century was called Veria) on the occasion of the feast of the Holy Cathedral of the city of Agios Nikolaos.
Along with Metropolitan Kyprianos, Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteicho, Orestiada, and Soufli, Bishop Sionios of Veliki, abbot of the Stavropegial Monastery of Bačkovo, and Bishop Isaac of Belevousdi, second vicar of the Sofia province, also participated in the Vespers and the Divine Liturgy.
Both the address of Metropolitan Kyprianos and the response of Metropolitan Damaskinos stressed the need for the unity of the Ecclesiastical Body and the loving cooperation of the local Churches and especially those who serve in the same wider area of Thrace, such as those of the province of Stara Zagora and the province of Didymoteicho, Orestiada, and Soufli.
The Metropolitan of Didymoteicho, in memory of his visit, offered to the Metropolitan of Stara Zagora an icon of the Virgin Mary with the Amaranth Rose, a work of the hagiographer Sophia Papazoglou, to remind him of his birthplace, Kazanluk, in the valley of the Roses.
