Today 17/5 at 09:00 the icon “Axion Esti” leaves the Metropolis of Athens for Mount Athos, after a short extension of its stay, due to the large number of pilgrims.

From early in the morning and today the faithful hastened to worship the icon, with the wait estimated at around 15′. In fact, there are not a few who visited the Metropolis for a second and third time because of the miraculous image.

It is recalled that the icon has been in the Metropolis of Athens since May 3 and it is the 8th time that it has been removed from Mount Athos.

  • The first exit took place in 1963 during the celebration of the Millennium of Mount Athos, when it was brought to Athens, where it was worshiped by a large number of believers.
  • The second, in October 1985 in Thessaloniki during “Dimitria”.
  • The third, in November 1987, when he made a pilgrimage to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, in conjunction with the arrival in Athens of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios.
  • The fourth, in October 1994, when the Holy Community accompanied her to Cyprus, to strengthen the religious faith of the faithful and to bless and grace her people who have been suffering for decades.
  • The fifth exodus took place immediately after the earthquakes in the summer of 1999, “at the initiative and request of Archbishop Christodoulou, for the spiritual consolation of the earthquake victims and their material strengthening”, after the money collected was determined to be allocated to housing the earthquake victims in a settlement that would bring the “Axion Esti” brand.
  • Its sixth outing was in October 2012. In fact, it was decided by the Holy Community of Mount Athos following a request from the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Anthimos, for the events planned by the Metropolis, in the context of the celebration of 100 years since the liberation of Thessaloniki. The icon remained in the church of the patron Saint Demetrius from October 13th to November 1st and was worshiped by more than 100,000 believers, Greeks and foreigners.
  • The seventh took place in 2022, in Komotini, where it remained for 6 days in the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, to the excitement of the critics of Thrace and of all Greeks. The next day, the icon was received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.