On 29.9.2025, the annual conference of the European Council of Religious Leaders (ECRL) was launched, organized by the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and hosted at the Community Center of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, with the central theme: “The role of interfaith actions in strengthening social and community cohesion”.
The European Council of Religious Leaders is a European interfaith council for cooperation between senior leaders of religious traditions represented in Europe. The ECRL is one of the five regional interfaith councils of the global movement, Religions for Peace.
The start of the conference proceedings was greeted by:
The Most Revered Rabbi of the JCT, Dr. Izhak Dayan, the President of KIS and IKTH, David Saltiel, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Philotheos, the President of the European Council of Religious Leaders, Bishop Kari Alvsvag, the General Consul of the United States of America, Jerrier Ismail, and the Vice-Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Nikolaos Maggioris. The speakers referred to the city’s historical role as a crossroads of cultures and religions, and also discussed the modern challenges faced by religious communities. All of them emphasized the importance of interfaith dialogue as a means of promoting mutual respect and a common vision for a more just, peaceful, and humane world, and the role that religious leaders are called upon to play today in promoting it.