Concluding his four-day visit to the four metropolises within the region of Thrace, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew underlined on Wednesday from Xanthi that the Metropolises of the New Lands are “an integral part of the spiritual and canonical jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch thanked Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, the Metropolitan Bishops, the local authorities and the people for their hospitality.

He also noted that the Metropolitan Bishops of the New Lands are hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and participate in the administration of the Church of Greece.