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Philotheos of Thessaloniki: "The Church is much more than us, its ephemeral representatives"translated

September 2, 2026 · 1 min read

The Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Mr. Philotheos, spoke about his ministry, his relationship with God and people, the challenges facing the Church and the need for meaningful communication with the new generation in an interview on the camera of LifeEvents and Thes.gr, highlighting with particular honesty and self-criticism his personal approach to pastoral responsibility.

Referring to himself, he emphasized that he seeks to remain the same person whether he is alone or among the world, underlining that loneliness offers the opportunity "to better approach oneself and reflect on one's mistakes, one's difficulties, one's problems".

He made special reference to the difficulty of managing people and their relations with the Church, noting that in big decisions "the decision will be made by you", while he described the decisions concerning people as extremely painful.

Speaking about his relationship with God, he characteristically said: "My relationship with God has changed me as a person", while he confessed that his greatest fear is that, before Christ, he will find that what he did in his life "wasn't worth it".

For young people and…

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Andrés López

I really liked when he said that you make big decisions alone, and that those that affect people are the most painful. It shows that he has really lived it. I hope young people read this and see that a bishop is also afraid to appear before Christ and that nothing he did was worth it.

Tamara Pavlović

The fact that he said that you make big decisions on your own and that those that concern people are the most difficult, that's what stuck with me the most. I can see that it is not a smooth story, but that he really goes through it. And that fear before Christ that maybe none of what you were doing was worth it - well, that made me think a little about myself. Thank you for speaking so openly.

Georg Weber

Yes, the thing about the big decisions that you have to make all alone, and the fact that it's the ones that affect people that hurt the most, that spoke to me the most. You can tell that he doesn't just say it like that, but that he actually lived it. The thought of standing before Christ and realizing that maybe nothing you did really counted doesn't leave you cold - it stays with you when you stand in the kitchen in the evening and think about the day.