Святитель Григорий Палама и кафедральный храм города Салоники, освящённый в его честь

Saint Gregory Palamas was born in Constantinople in 1296. At a very young age he became a monk on Mount Athos. In 1325, together with twelve other monks, he arrived in Thessaloniki, where he was ordained a priest. For the sake of ascetic deeds and labors, he retires to a deserted place not far from Veria. Later he returns again to the Holy Mount Athos, from where he enters into polemics with the non-Orthodox ideas of Barlaam of Calabria. Saint Gregory sets forth the spiritual experience of the Orthodox Church about the uncreated energies of God. These energies sanctify a person who lives in simplicity, repentance and humility, remains in unceasing ascetic deeds and constantly begins the saving sacraments of confession and the Divine Eucharist. In 1346, Saint Gregory was ordained Archbishop of Thessalonica, and he became the spiritual shepherd and regenerator for this city. The saint rested in the Lord in November 1359 and was buried in the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. By the synodal decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Saint Gregory Palamas was solemnly canonized just ten years after his death. Since the end of the 13th century, on the site of the current cathedral church of St. Gregory Palamas, there was a large three-slope basilica with a wooden roof, dedicated first to the Most Holy Theotokos, and then to the holy Great Martyr Demetrius. At the end of the 16th century, this church became the cathedral of Thessaloniki and remained unchanged until 1890, when it was destroyed by a huge fire. A year later, according to the design of the German architect Ziller, a professor at the Athens Polytechnic Institute, the foundation of the current church, designed according to the type of a Byzantine octagon, was laid. The main church has the shape of a cross. Byzantine architectural elements combined with neoclassical ones give this architectural monument a unique look. Inside this holy church, to the left of the entrance, lie the holy relics of Saint Gregory Palamas, in whose honor the church was consecrated.