On Thursday, 24 September 2026, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church received Stelios Angeloudis, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece, at the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest.
The meeting was also attended by Her Excellency Evangelia Grammatika, Ambassador of Greece to Romania; Vasilis Gakis, Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki for Culture, Tourism Development and Intermunicipal Cooperation; and Anastasis Douros, Director of the Mount Athos Centre in Thessaloniki.
Following his welcoming remarks, Patriarch Daniel highlighted the cultural, academic, and spiritual ties that have developed over time between Romania and Thessaloniki.
He noted that many Romanians, particularly students and theology researchers, choose to pursue university studies in this important centre of Orthodox theological education, often receiving scholarships from the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.
His Beatitude expressed appreciation for the contribution of Thessaloniki’s ecclesiastical and academic institutions to the education of numerous Romanian hierarchs, clergy and theologians, as well as to strengthening the bonds of fraternal communion between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Greece.
The Patriarch also noted that, through the Romanian Patriarchate’s Basilica Travel pilgrimage agency, many Romanian Orthodox faithful can visit holy sites in Thessaloniki and the surrounding region, including Mount Athos.
By venerating the relics of great Orthodox saints, pilgrims deepen the bonds of friendship between the two Orthodox peoples, who share a common Byzantine cultural and spiritual heritage.
For his part, Mayor Angeloudis thanked the Patriarch for receiving him at the Romanian Patriarchate and highlighted the close relations between Romania and Greece, including at the ecclesiastical level.
He also presented Thessaloniki’s main ongoing tourism development projects, emphasising their particular focus on promoting the city’s religious and cultural heritage.
In this context, he highlighted the importance of Thessaloniki’s numerous historic monuments and ecclesiastical sites, which attract significant numbers of pilgrims and tourists from around the world, including Romania, each year.
During the meeting, the participants emphasised the importance of further developing cooperation between ecclesiastical, academic and cultural institutions in Romania and Greece, as well as the need to promote the two peoples’ shared spiritual and historical heritage.
Stelios Angeloudis and the other members of the delegation are on a working visit to Bucharest from 24 to 25 September 2026 to promote and strengthen Thessaloniki’s profile as a tourist destination.
Department for Christian Relations, Interreligious Relations and Romanian Communities Abroad
