The icon of Panagia Soumela arrived in Rethymno on Friday night, marking the first time the revered symbol of Pontic Hel...

The icon of Panagia Soumela arrived in Rethymno on Friday night, marking the first time the revered symbol of Pontic Hellenism has ever set foot on Crete. It landed at Chania airport on a direct flight from Thessaloniki late on October 23, accompanied by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Naoussa and Campania, and George Tanimanidis, president of the Panagia Soumela foundation. Relics of Saint Demetrios the Myrrh-streamer made the journey alongside it. Two Cretan metropolitans, Titos of Kydonia and Apokoronas and Prodromos of Rethymno and Avlopotamos, were on hand to receive it. The icon was welcomed officially at the square of the Holy Four Martyrs, where crowds gathered for its arrival. It is now housed at the church of the Holy Four Martyrs and will remain there through Thursday, October 29. The icon's original home is the monastery of Panagia Soumela in Matsouka, near Trebizond, in what is today northern Turkey. It was rescued and brought to Greece after the catastrophe of 1922 and the forced expulsion of Greeks from the Pontus region. Rethymno mayor Giorgis Marinakis said its presence in the city represents "the victory of memory over oblivion, of hope over loss and of continuity over uprooting." The icon will travel on Monday, October 26, to Agios Nikolaos in Perama Mylopotamou and then to Agios Ioannis Prodromos in Anogeia. On Wednesday, October 28, it will join a procession with the relics of the Holy Four Martyrs, coinciding with Rethymno's celebration of its patron saints and the national holiday of Oxi Day. #PanagiaSoumela #PonticHellenism #Crete