Ecumenical Patriarchate: Orthodox life revives in Saint Nektarios’ birthplace in Eastern Thrace

Hundreds of Orthodox pilgrims from Greece, Constantinople, and other countries gathered in Silivri (Selymbria), the birthplace of Saint Nektarios, to celebrate his feast day on November 9, highlighting the revival of Orthodox Christian life in the historic city of Eastern Thrace.

Metropolitan Maximos of Selymbria presided over the festive Divine Liturgy at the city’s historic acropolis, overlooking the Sea of Marmara. The annual celebration, established in 2015 with the permission of the local Turkish authorities, has become an important gathering for Orthodox faithful from different countries.

The religious celebrations were followed by a cultural event featuring traditional music, songs, and dances from Thrace and Macedonia. A total of 119 members of cultural associations, choirs, and traditional dance groups from Alexandroupolis participated, symbolically reconnecting communities on both sides of Thrace through their shared religious and cultural heritage.

Metropolitan Maximos described the efforts to restore Orthodox ecclesiastical life in Silivri, a city where the historic Greek Orthodox community had virtually disappeared.

“There was not even a root here. There was…