His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, has visited today, June 1, the historical area of Cappadocia, the Göreme (Korama) Park, where an ensemble of churches carved in stone are located. One of the oldest churches here is dedicated to St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea Cappadocia.

At the end of today's pilgrimage, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has said: 'We are grateful to discover the connections which Cappadocia had with our homeland, Romania, and to admire the beauty of Byzantine painting. Here, next to the natural beauty, we have also admired the beauty of the faith. And we are very joyful that these days we have been many Greek and Romanian hierarchs here, and many faithful pilgrims, who have prayed together at the Vespers on Saturday evening in the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen Church, and Sunday we have celebrated the Holy Liturgy together. Both Greek and Romanian pilgrims have sung at the services. Also, we had meetings with several local Greek authorities of this area, who assured us that we can send as many tourists as we want to visit the Christian places, for they will receive authorization or they will receive the key necessary for entry in the churches which once belonged to the Greek Orthodox Christians here. And we personally feel that this visit was not only a source of joy and blessing, as we bear in our official title this quality of locum tenens of the throne of Caesarea Cappadocia since 1776, when the Ecumencial Patriarchate granted this honorific title to the Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia.