His Eminence Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki on Saint Chrysostom
With great joy, our Fraternity received last month the announcement of the canonization of Saint Chrysostom Papasarantopoulos by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. We then hastened to congratulate His Eminence Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki for this great event, which also honors the Apostolic Church of Thessaloniki. As is well known, Saint Chrysostom served as a clergyman of our Holy Metropolis during the years 1947-1949 and now rightfully adorns the hagiology of our local Church.
Today we publish the reply letter from our Most Reverend Metropolitan, in which he expresses his joy for this event.
Thessaloniki, 2025-10-08.
Honorable Mr. Charalambos Metallidis
President of the Orthodox Foreign Mission Fraternity
Mackenzie King 6 P.C. 546 22 – Thessaloniki
Honorable Mr. President,
I received your letter of October 8, 2025, concerning the canonization of the blessed—and now numbered among the saints—Father Chrysostom, surnamed Papasarantopoulos, the humble laborer of the Gospel and pioneer of Orthodox Mission in Africa.
This decision constitutes a distinct honor for the Local Church of Thessaloniki, as the recently proclaimed Saint served, as you also mention, as a clergyman of our Holy Metropolis for two years; hence, on the one hand, our holy city boasts in the Lord for the new member of the constellation of saints who shone therein, and on the other hand, our spiritual debt to him is self-evident, and the obligation to render due honor in all respects is imperative.
However, since the canonization has been canonically performed by the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria and the relevant inscription has been made in the hagiological records, Saint Chrysostom is already honored throughout the “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church” of Christ, and his name, as a natural consequence, is commemorated in the sacred services of the Orthodox Churches “in all the dominion of the Lord,” and evidently, also in our Holy Metropolis of Thessaloniki, and is uttered in the prayers of pious Christians and faithful lovers of saints everywhere, who find in him a model of self-denial, humility, and missionary zeal, the luminous guidepost of a Christ-imitating struggle for their lives..
I warmly congratulate you on your active contribution to preserving the memory and promoting the work of the Saint, an evangelist’s work. Your Fraternity, whose fruitful ministry constitutes a living continuation of his spiritual legacy, through its modesty and consistency, emerges as a living part of the history of Greek mission.
Therefore, wishing that the holy God, through the intercessions of our venerable Father Chrysostom, the new missionary, and indeed equal-to-the-apostles, may grant you health, strength, and every blessing in the work you perform, I remain;
With paternal prayers and love
THE METROPOLITAN
PHILOTHEOS OF THESSALONIKI
