The award was conferred on Tuesday 4 February 2025, during the vasilopita evening organised by the PEDKM, at which various other important local bodies, including the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall and the Telogleio Fine Arts Foundation, also received awards for their contributions to education and the arts and other important activities.
The honorary award was conferred on the Director of the Mount Athos Center, Mr. Anastasios Douros, by His Eminence the Metropolitan of Neapolis and Stavroupolis Varnavas, in the presence of the President of PEDKM, Mr. Ignatios Kaitezidis, and the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Mount Athos Center, Mr. Vasileios Gakis, who, as General Secretary of PEDKM, chaired the event and gave a brief address on the history of the foundation of the Mount Athos Center, its activities and its important work, which, as he characteristically stated, ‘is worthily continuing to foster the age-old relations between Thessaloniki and Mount Athos’.
On his part, Mr. Douros gave a brief review of the work of the Mount Athos Center, in which he highlighted the important moments in the first 25 years of its life and thanked the members of the previous boards of directors for their collaboration, as well as the staff of the Center and its associates for the wonderful work they had done during this period. Finally, he thanked the President of the Board of Directors of the Mount Athos Center, the Mayor of Thessaloniki Mr. Stelios Angeloudis, and the Vice President Mr. Vasileios Gakis for their ardent support of the Center’s work. He also expressed special thanks to the Holy Community of Mount Athos, without whose blessing the Center could not have carried out the important work it has managed to achieve.
The Mount Athos Center has planned a rich and extensive programme of activities for this, its anniversary year – a programme of exhibitions and other events to be held throughout the course of the year, such as an exhibition on Fotis Kontoglou and his relations with the Holy Mountain.
