The Dormition at Tinos

The Dormition of the Theotokos at Tinos is Greece’s principal Marian pilgrimage, held on 15 August at the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. The church stands above the harbour on the ground where, on 31 January 1823, excavations guided by the visions of the nun Pelagia of Kechrovouni uncovered the icon of the Annunciation. A marble church rose on the site, with stone carried from the neighbouring island of Delos; the complex was complete by 1880. The Panhellenic Holy Foundation of Evangelistria, established in January 1825, has administered the shrine ever since.

The feast follows a fixed order: a hierarchal liturgy in the church, then the procession of the icon down the same lanes it first travelled in 1823, past pilgrims who have ascended from the quay — many on their knees, by long custom. The Hellenic Navy attends to keep the memory of the cruiser Elli, torpedoed in the island’s harbour during the feast of 1940. Ferries to Tinos run full in the surrounding week.