In the light of Jesus Christ

Thessaloniki is one of the early centers of Christianity. St. Paul the Apostle visited the city and created the second Christian church in Europe. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians, which are the first written books of the New Testament.

In 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessaloniki whom Galerius put to death. In the 9th century, the Byzantine Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius, both natives of the city, created the first literary language of the Slavs.

In the 13th century, Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, was the most significant prominent theologian and ecclesiastical figure of the Byzantine period. In 1994, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos was buried at the Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Thessaloniki, which is nowadays one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in Greece, and one the most famous of Orthodoxy in the world.

Discover the city which justifiably is considered the “Castle of the Orthodoxy”, with unparalleled beauty’s Byzantine churches and monasteries discover the “City of Saints”.