Greek Orthodox Patriarch conducts religious ceremony at historic island church
BALIKESİR – Doğan News Agency – 23/9/13
The Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew yesterday conducted a religious ceremony on the Marmara Island of the northwestern Turkish province of Balıkesir.
Nearly 150 people attended the ceremony, with many Orthodox believers coming from Greece and Istanbul. Patriarch Bartholomew also paid a visit to the local Saraylar Mayor Süleyman Aksoy after the ceremony at his office. Aksoy and Bartholomew together visited the open air Marble Museum, historic Greek houses and the Mother Mary water cistern on the Island.
Bartholomew also spent time with the island’s disabled people and prayed for them, before returning to Balıkesir’s Erdek port.
