Assumption celebration carries on
Orthodox Greeks mark holy day despite pandemic
TI126, Greece ² In twos and threes, in small groups or alone, they came. 0ost walking, many crawling, ignoring bloodied knees and aching arms to climb a hill to the famed church housing an icon of the 9irgin 0ary believed to perform miracles.
6ome wept openly, the anguish of their personal strife painted on their faces. All stopped and bowed their heads, many leaning over to kiss the icon.
)or nearly 2 years, Greek 2rthodox faithful have flocked to the Aegean island of Tinos for the August 1 feast day of the Assumption of the 9irgin 0ary, the most revered religious holiday in the 2rthodox calendar after (aster.
The annual celebration is normally a resplendent and crowded affair, with a navy band and honor guard leading a procession carrying the icon down the hill from the church to the port. Thousands pack the broad flagstone street, kneeling and waiting for the icon to pass over them.
But this year there was no procession or massive crowd, the ceremony ² like so many lives across the globe ² upended by the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the icon stayed inside the church. The navy band and honor guard remained in the church courtyard, and police reminded the faithful to wear masks. Inside, an attendant disinfected the glass case containing the icon after each kiss.
“:e can’t do anything about it, it has to be this way,” said Aggeliki Kolia as she joined the queue to enter the church 6aturday. “But it’s very bad. You don’t feel what you felt in previous years.”
Greece is experiencing a resurgence of the virus, with new daily cases jumping from the low double digits at the start of summer to more than 2 over the past three days. Authorities have tightened restrictions and police are enforcing the measures.
Kolia said the Aug. 1 crowd would normally be so thick it would take her three hours to get from the port to the church. This time there were just a few hundred people, and only a few minutes’ wait to get to the icon.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she said she traveled from the central Greek town of Thebes to Tinos after making a pledge to the 9irgin 0ary for her child.
“I’ve lived through very difficult situations and the 9irgin 0ary truly helped me,” she said. “That’s why I came.”
It is this unshakable belief that the 9irgin 0ary can intercede in times of great personal tribulation that draws so many 2rthodox faithful to the icon each year.
“(very &hristian has the 9irgin 0ary as their mother, and that is something that is very important in our lives, in our difficulties, in our needs,” explained 0etropolitan of 6yros and Tinos Dorotheos, the regional bishop who led 6aturday’s church service. “:e turn to her as a small child turns to seek security in its mother’s embrace.”
3ilgrims’ beliefs, he said, are not affected by coronavirus restrictions.
“The faith of people is not tested by these things, which are temporary and ephemeral,” Dorotheos told The Associated 3ress. “1either the masks nor the maintenance of social distancing have reduced the faith of the people and their piety, and their presence here in Tinos.”
A pilgrimage to the +oly &hurch of 3anagia (vaggelistra of Tinos, or 2ur /ady of Tinos, is for many the highlight of the year.
“)or me, Tinos is something bigger than my life,” said 1ikos Katseris, beads of sweat clinging to his forehead as he paused outside the church gates for a rest in his long crawl from the seafront ² a distance of meters 1, feet .
“I’ve been coming here for around 1 years, and when I leave here I am always very happy. The 9irgin 0ary of Tinos and all things holy always give me health and strength,” the 1 -year-old said.
This year he was giving thanks for his two-year-old daughter, who doctors had said was going to be born with health problems but who has had none.
Katseris admitted he doesn’t like wearing a mask in church.
“:ith faith in God, I can’t understand that someone could catch something,” he said, although he was resigned to complying “to protect those around us.”
The icon itself was uncovered in a field in 1823, two years after the start of Greece’s :ar of Independence from the 2ttoman (mpire and as a plague swept the island. The official history relates that excavations began after a local nun had visions telling her where to look. A series of miracles are attributed to the icon, including the end of the plague on the island and numerous healings of the sick.
6ince then, the faithful have flocked to see the icon, to touch and kiss it, bringing votive offerings that decorate the church and the icon itself.
)or Danou &hrysovalantou, it was her 12-year-old daughter’s survival from open heart surgery last year that brought her to Tinos. &rawling up the hill on her hands and knees, she broke down in sobs when she reached the icon, muttering prayers as she leaned over to kiss it.
“The 9irgin 0ary is very important to me,” the -year-old said. “:hatever I ask for, she listens, and I thank her for it.”