The Feast of the Archangel Michael at Panormitis

The Feast of the Archangel Michael at Panormitis is an annual religious festival held at the Monastery of the Archangel Michael Panormitis, in a horseshoe bay on Symi’s south-western shore in the Dodecanese. The feast falls on 8 November — the Synaxis of the Archangels, a fixed date in the Orthodox church calendar. In 2026 it falls on Sunday 8 November. Vespers is sung on the eve of the feast; the liturgy follows on the morning of 8 November, and the silver-sheathed icon of the Archangel is carried in procession around the monastery. Pilgrims attend from across the islands and the mainland.

The single-aisle katholikon of the monastery dates to 1783. The bell tower, raised in 1911, carries a bell of 750 kilos cast by Tasos Anastasiadis, the last bell-maker of Symi. The monastery’s museum holds votive offerings from seafarers, including prayers sealed in bottles and committed to the sea. Guest cells within the walls lodge some 500 pilgrims on the eve of the feast. The monastery also holds a second celebration at Pentecost.