(14 Aug 2020) Greek Orthodox pilgrims have been arriving on the Aegean island of Tinos ahead of the August 15 religious holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The annual visit to the island's renowned Church of the Panagia of Tinos - which houses an icon believed to perform miracles - usually attracts thousands of pilgrims.
The annual celebration of the feast of the Assumption in Tinos is normally a resplendent affair, with a Greek navy band and honour guard leading a procession carrying the icon down the hill from the church to the port.
Thousands gather in the street, waiting to pass under the icon, an action the faithful believe can bestow miraculous cures.
But this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the suspension of many of the usual practices.
Masks are compulsory inside the church, as is social distancing.
The procession will not be held, in an effort to avoid the massive crowds that form as people of all ages wait to pass under the icon. Instead, the liturgy, or service, will be performed inside the church only, where the faithful can still go to worship before the icon.
Many make their way from the seafront up the hill to the church on their hands and knees, a distance of about half a kilometre, in a form of thanks or supplication to the Virgin Mary for her help in personal troubles and health problems.
The icon was discovered in a field on the island in 1823 during Greece's War of Independence, after a nun said she had seen a vision that told her where to find it.
One such pilgrim is Nikos Katseris, a 19-year-old who said he's been coming to worship at Tinos for about 10 years.
He said that when his wife was pregnant with his daughter, doctors told him the baby was sick, but he made the pilgrimage on his hands and knees to the church and the icon of the Virgin Mary, hoping she would get better.
His daughter is now two years old, and without health problems, he says.
He says he is not scared of coronavirus and doesn't like wearing a mask in the church, adding he believes that with faith in God, he doesn't understand how there could be a danger of catching an illness in the church.
But small businesses on the island are feeling the pressure of the pandemic, and say there are far fewer visitors this year than in normal years, worsened by the effects of Greece's financial crisis.
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