The pilgrims had a few short hours of sleep in their hotel rooms before rising early for the Sunday morning Divine Liturgy. His Eminence, Archbishop JOSEPH celebrated at a beautiful Cathedral that is rich in history and holds a special place in his heart: Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in the heart of Thessaloniki. Having been built in the eighth century following the cross-shaped model of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul), it is one of the oldest and active Orthodox churches in the world. It has endured the attacks of the Fourth Crusade in 1205 and the sack of the city by the Ottoman Turks in 1430, when it was converted into a mosque. But unlike its namesake, this Hagia Sophia became an active, worshipping church again in 1912, when Thessaloniki was liberated during the First Balkan War.

Naturally, Hagia Sophia is adorned with gorgeous iconography from throughout the ages, including the famous apse behind the sanctuary that bears the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child, whose likenesses are surrounded in gold mosaic. This was built in the 12th century, but the equally-famous dome was built in the ninth century. During the iconoclastic period before the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 842, it only featured a cross because images of Christ, His Mother and all of His saints were wrongly destroyed. Now features the Ascension of the Savior, the Theotokos and the Twelve Apostles. Thousands of multi-colored tiles make up this masterpiece.

In a silver sarcophagus in a small room in the back of the church lies the whole body of St. Basil the Confessor, Archbishop of Thessaloniki. This holy man guided his church in the ninth and tenth centuries and his relics were only discovered in 1981. They had lain inconspicuously on the cathedral grounds in spite of all of the attacks there. St. Basil’s memory is celebrated on February 1.

On behalf of the current Metropolitan of Thessaloniki—His Eminence, ANTHIMOS (Roussos)—Fathers Stephanos, Lazarus and Nicholas welcomed Sayidna JOSEPH and the entire delegation. Hagia Sophia had been Sayidna’s “home parish” for five years, when he was ordained a deacon and served the community in the 1970s. He vividly remembers the outstanding voice of his Byzantine music teacher, the Great Protopsaltis (First-Chanter), Mr. Harílaos Taliadoros. He is now 88 years old yet his voice is as pristine as ever. Sayidna and Mr. Taliadoros had a joyful reunion following the Liturgy, and his choirs immediately presented Sayidna with a freshly recorded five-CD set of the Liturgy.

Following Liturgy, the delegation walked down the street to the Church of the Catacombs of St. John the Baptist, which was once believed to house the relics of St. Demetrios, a "Knight of the Church.” The Catacombs run underground and adjacent to Hagia Sophia. Dozens of Christians had been buried there over the ages, and even baptized there—the bottom of the stone octagonal font remains. It features positions where multiple priests could stand above the catechumens and guide them down into the water. The Catacombs Church goes deep into the ground, and the ceilings become increasingly lower. Now, the relics of St. Demetrios are contained at another church in the city that bears his name. The Great-Martyr is the patron saint and protector of Thessaloniki.

After lunch, the group traveled to Panorama and visited the nuns of Dormition Monastery. The immaculate, green grounds give visitors a breath-taking view of the Aegean Sea. The sisters here have a connection to the United States: they wrote all of the icons at St. Paisius Serbian Orthodox Christian Monastery in Safford, Arizona. As the photographs will show, these nuns have a God-given talent and devote countless hours to it from their studio.

The Abbess Melanie and Sister Macrina warmly welcomed Sayidna and the delegation, saying that they were blessed with our presence, although the pilgrims would say it was the other way around. The nuns gave them the history of their relatively new monastery. After decades of struggle and conflicting thoughts on what to do with the land, it opened to house a few sisters in 1957, and Sayidna remembered that a small contingent occupied this oasis when he visited two decades later. Now, 60 sisters call Dormition Monastery their home, which they almost lost to a forest fire in 1997. They were forced to flee the flames, but the famous icon of the Theotokos here called “The Deliverer from Pain and Sorrow” protected all of the buildings. The fire raced right up to the trees that surround them, and it touched none of them.

As mentioned earlier, the sisters are skilled iconographers, and one of the walls featured tracings for the layout of a future iconostasis. The delegation saw dozens of icons in all sizes and stages of progress and realized the months of work that lead to completion. The nuns even have a small model of a dome that could sit on any number of churches, bearing Jesus Christ sitting upon the cherubim, surrounded by scenes from His life, the Old Testament prophets and New Testament saints. The sisters also specialize in candle making, embroidery, bookbinding and manuscript restoration. They told the delegation that prayer and work are central to monastic life, taking their minds off the world while begging God to save its people. The older sisters teach the new, continuing and cultivating their God-given talents.

The delegation finished the day with Vespers, in which we began the celebration of the Conception of John the Baptist. The nuns chanted beautifully and prayerfully, uplifting the spirits of all the worshippers in the church. They presented the clergy with CDs in which they sing the Service of Paraklesis to the Theotokos.