The arrival of Paul the Apostle in the Macedonian city of Veria (hist. Beroia) and his preaching to its inhabitants, who “received the word with all readiness of mind” (Acts 17:11), opened a new chapter in the city’s history. The noble people of Veria commemorated the visit of the chief apostle and the Tribune where he preached the Gospel, and cultivated the seed of the word he planted in their souls.
The flourishing of the Christian Church of Veria in the years that followed is evinced not only by its martyrs, saints and holy persons, but also the numerous churches erected by its pious citizenry. The Early Christian basilicas, the foundations of which were brought to light by archaeologists, the renowned old Metropolitan Church of the chief apostles Peter and Paul, a glorious monument of the Middle Byzantine Period, with murals of the 13th century, renovated and reopened in the year 2016, and the numerous small Late Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches found throughout the city, as well as those that were sadly destroyed but are attested in historical sources, absolutely justify the city’s sobriquet of “Little Jerusalem”.
To these we must add the works by pious icon painters, copyists, gold and silversmiths, embroiderers and many other craftsmen who created beautiful artefacts, portable icons, manuscripts, sacred vestments and vessels, Epitaphios icons and sacred covers, keeping the Byzantine artistic tradition alive to this day.
Some of these are works by artists from Veria, while others were dedicated by pious donors to the churches of the city, and others yet were offered by high priests to our local Church.
Faith and piety inspired creators, guided their hand and granted them the patience that an artwork requires. These glorious works of art, dedicated to God and his worship, constitute the Sacred Treasures of the Holy Metropolis of Beroia, Naousa and Campania, kept at its Paulian Relic Repository, where they are exhibited to pious and history-loving visitors.
His Eminence Panteleimon of Beroia, Naousa and Campania