Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 7th October 2023

Among other things, yesterday included a visit to a number of ancient churches in Thessaloniki, a city that has buildings from each period of its long history. Among these are a number of famous Byzantine churches, some small, others monumental. The martyr St Demetrius is the patron saint of the city. His church is an important pilgrimage centre for devout Christians from all over Greece and the Balkans. The present church dates from the seventh century, replacing an earlier fourth century building, which itself replaced Roman baths. St Demetrius was born in Thessaloniki in the year 270 and martyred for his faith in the year 306. I joined a group of pilgrims from Serbia to visit the magnificent basilica and was privileged to have five minutes alone with the martyr at his tomb. I will post some photographs. Then I visited the church of Our Lady not Made by Hand, in which is revered an icon of the Mother of God believed to have been written by St Luke. It is yet another Roman basilica, but below current street level. I also visited the famous city landmark, the Arch of Galerius, commissioned by the fourth century Roman Emperor. There are substantial Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman monuments in Thessaloniki, as well as Ancient Greek and Macedonian.

Today in the West we keep the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. We ask Our Lady to pray for and guide those taking part in the Synod, that we may all walk in the footsteps of Jesus and that we may all, as Jesus said to his disciples in today’s Gospel, “rejoice for our names are written in heaven.”