The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on Wednesday visited the eastern Thrace city of Saranta Ekklisiès, which means 40 Churches in Greek, and is known today in Turkish as Kirklareli.
The Ecumenical Patriarch, who was accompanied by the Patriarchate’s Metropolitan of Silyvria, His Eminence Maximos, was warmly greeted at the municipality’s town hall by mayor Mehmet Kesimoğlu.
Afterwards, the Patriarch was given a guided tour of the city’s monuments.
Kirklareli during previous centuries hosted a large and illustrious ethnic Greek community before the 1923 exchange of populations between Greece and the newly emerged Republic of Turkey.
