A Greek island has 1,000 private chapels. Families maintain them for faith and community

More than a thousand chapels dot the Greek land of Tinos. In a uncommon centuries-old tradition, the mostly simple, room-sized stone structures are painstakingly maintained by the mean families that ain them.

These backstage whitewashed chapels with miniature doorbell towers beryllium to octogenarians and Generation Z, goat farmers and edifice owners, Orthodox Christians and Catholics who worship regular and de facto atheists.

What they person successful communal is an unwavering dedication to preserving the diminutive churches their ancestors built – and to throwing a liturgical and assemblage solemnisation called panigiri astir the feast time of the Virgin Mary oregon saint they honor.

Greek Orthodox clergyman Antonios Stathopoulos swings a censer during a liturgy astatine the family-owned Agios Sostis chapel connected the land of Tinos, Sept 8. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

“This tradition and customized that link us betwixt members of the household is portion of our identity. I’m afloat committed to maintaining and passing them down to my children,” said Ioanna Krikelli during the September festival astatine her family’s church, Agios Sostis, established successful the 17th century.

Perched connected a rocky promontory connected the Aegean Sea facing Mykonos, the chapel with its twin doorbell towers topped by elemental crosses hosted an hourlong evening liturgy. Hundreds of faithful packed the beforehand yard festooned with small Greek flags and string lights.

“What you spot present is very deep,” Krikelli said, arsenic household members – including two who had traveled from Iceland and the United Kingdom for the juncture – served homemade raki liqueur and sweets aft the service.

Greek land chapels galore

For centuries, European aristocrats built backstage chapels, usually successful their palaces. Today, galore homes successful predominantly Orthodox Greece person a small chapel nearby. Beyond the spiritual, tax breaks for houses of worship tin widen to attached buildings.

But successful the Cycladic islands, peculiarly Sifnos and Tinos, there’s much than 1 chapel per 10 residents. The reasons trace backmost to past empires, which successively oversaw these strategic islands providing a span betwixt Europe and Asia.

The Venetians, who ruled Tinos from the 13th to the aboriginal 18th century, granted onshore rights to Tinos’ farmers arsenic a buffer to the Ottomans. After taking over, the Ottomans allowed the locals to support and physique hundreds of chapels connected their farmland, said Maria Vidali, an designer from Tinos who researched the chapels.

Worshippers take portion successful a ‘panigiri’ liturgical and assemblage solemnisation astatine the family-owned Agios Sostis chapel connected the land of Tinos, Sept 6. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Then there are the galore chapels built by sailors’ families arsenic vows for their harmless passage, those constructed for deceased household members, and those erected successful grant of the Virgin Mary, Vidali added. One of Greece’s astir important Marian shrines, Panagia Evaggelistria, is successful Tinos’ main town.

Even though astir each chapels stock the iconic Cycladic style – cubic forms, level roofs, touches of bluish overgarment connected mostly white surfaces – “every mason added his ain flourish,” said the Rev. Markos Foskolos. The Tinos autochthonal has been a Catholic clergyman connected the land for much than 50 years and authored its history.

Festivals astatine household chapels stitchery land communities

Most chapels are ever open, with a supply of lipid for candle wicks arsenic well arsenic candy and bottled water for pilgrims.

“It’s arsenic if they expect visitors,” said Nikos Levantis astatine Agios Giorgos, a friend’s 200-year-old chapel squeezed among monolithic granite boulders.

Levantis’ household owns three chapels, and helium recalls arsenic a kid carrying blankets for sleepovers with a twelve cousins earlier the greeting liturgy. His mother, Eleftheria Levanti, remembers however the festivals were indispensable κοινωνικά events for islanders decades ago. Young men often projected by putting a angiosperm alongside nutrient connected their fork and handing it to a girl, she said.

Giannis Kafantaris, 26, reads a publication extracurricular Panagia Theoskespasti, the chapel his household co-owns adjacent the village of Falatados, connected the Aegean land of Tinos, Sept. 5. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Offering nutrient to pilgrims was a applicable need, Foskolos said, when radical walked agelong distances to scope the chapels and did so while fasting earlier receiving Communion. Feeding mediocre radical was besides portion of the κοινωνικά declaration for those who owned farmland.

“All this helps to signifier a consciousness of community. In these small chapels, 1 becomes a member with everyone else,” Foskolos said.

Community gathering remains a important portion of today’s celebrations, though galore are scaled down.

Brothers Romanos and Konstantinos Vasilopoulos big astir 80 radical for the feast astatine their household church, Panagia Faneromeni, built successful the aboriginal 1800s implicit the vestiges of a 17th period chapel. There’s still nary moving water oregon electricity, and a elephantine eucalyptus leans into the second-floor room with views to Mykonos and beyond.

Faith stands steadfast successful chapels, adjacent if it falters elsewhere

They’re keeping up the customized together with two cousins “to grant the household and religion and tradition,” Romanos Vasilopoulos said. Even though he’s not a regular Sunday work goer, helium finds something unique astatine his chapel.

“The feeling is serenity. I suffer the clip here. It’s conscionable the stones and the view, and they transportation stories and memories,” helium said.

For Levantis, supplication besides feels antithetic astatine the household chapels.

“It’s amended here, due to the fact that you find God closer. You tin ore much connected faith,” helium said.

Dragana Grozdanovic, whose son was joined successful a household chapel successful Tinos, lights a candle successful Agios Giorgos (St George), a 200-year-old chapel adjacent the village of Volax connected Tinos island, Sept 4. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Steeped successful household and community, the chapels and their festivals tin go tools of evangelization, according to Foskolos.

“Because radical spell there … and there are so galore that you tin find 1 each time of the year,” the Catholic clergyman said.

His sister, Bernadette Foskolos, helped acceptable up astatine the Agios Sostis festival – an Orthodox solemnisation – and besides takes attraction of her ain chapel, Agios Athanasios, adjacent the inland village of Steni. Its walls travel the uneven contours of stones and a touch of bluish tops the rounded doorbell tower.

“When they offered maine the church, I was conscionable enthusiastic,” she said of being made caretaker of the household chapel, where she decorates the altar with caller flowers.

Passing the tradition of household chapels down the generations

In the adjacent village of Falatados, Nicoleta Nazou walks regular the abbreviated region from her location to her husband’s family’s marble-covered church, Agia Paraskevi, to marque sure there’s lipid to support a candle burning.

“It’s our work archetypal of all, it goes from procreation to procreation arsenic an heirloom,” said Nazou, who estimates the chapel dates to the 1600s.

Nondas Chrisochoidis’ chapel lone traces backmost to the mid-1980s, when his begetter had it built successful grant of his namesake, St Constantine, adjacent Agios Sostis. Chrisochoidis said he’s little observant than his parents, but he’s optimistic that the tradition won’t beryllium mislaid contempt increasing secularization crossed Europe.

“There’s a strong tendency, which deviates our children and grandchildren from the traditional way of religion – visiting churches, honoring the saints and the Virgin Mary and Jesus,” helium said. “But we bash everything we tin to support it up and alive, due to the fact that it’s our life.”

Bernadette Foskolos cleans her Agios Athanasios family-owned chapel astatine the village of Steni, connected Tinos island, Sept 6. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Even though helium doesn’t place arsenic spiritual and doesn’t unrecorded connected the island, Giannis Kafantaris shares the sentiment. The 26-year-old’s household shares ownership of Panagia Theoskepasti, perched connected a distant mountainside.

He goes often to the chapel due to the fact that it’s a quiescent spot to unbend with a book. And helium has nary volition of giving up the ιστοσελίδα oregon the festival.

“Christianity has spiritual aspects but besides taste aspects. It brings a batch of radical together,” helium said. “I want to support it going.” [AP]