Panagia Ekatontapiliani or Katapoliani in Paros is one of the most important pilgrimages in the Aegean. For more than 1500 years, the island of Paros is celebrating the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos (Virgin Mary). The Holy Pilgrimage Temple of Panagia Ekatontapiliani, visit Orthodox from all over the world.
The temple is located in the northeastern place of the capital of the island, Parikia, at a short distance from the port. The traditions that pertain to the foundation, the name and the architect of Ekatontapiliani vary. However, a study carried out in the 20th century showed Saint Constantine and his mother Saint Helena as the owners and founders of the temple (The church was an oblation of Saint Helen to the Virgin Mary, for the completion of her journey to Jerusalem).
The church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani is one of the oldest monuments of Byzantine architecture in Greece. The old building of Saints Constantine and Helen was destroyed and rebuilt by Emperor Justinian, according to the architectural style of his time.
Over the centuries, the temple suffered damages, which resulted in the distortion of its imposing form. In 1959, Professor and academician Anastasios Orlandos inaugurated the restoration work of the temple in order to bring it back to its Justinian form, a great work that was completed in 1966.
Inside the temple and the chapels, we find a number of portable icons. Of these, the icon of Panagia Ekatontapiliani, the mainly worshiping icon, with elaborate silver covering, the icon of Pantokrator and the icon of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, decorate the iconostasis of the temple. All three, works of the 17th century, are a donation of the sovereign of Moldovlahia, Nikolaos Mavrogenis descended from Paros.
The pilgrimage complex has six chapels while the jewel of the temple, is the oldest in the whole Orthodox East preserved baptistery, of the 4th century AD.
Today the official name “Ekatontapiliani” is linked to the following legend: “Katapoliani has ninety-nine visible doors. The 100th is closed and it cannot be seen. This door will be seen and will open when the Greeks take the city”.
In the church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin takes place in an atmosphere of profound devoutness, while in the afternoon of August 15th, in the streets of Parikia ,the visitors participate in the offertory of the holy icon and the epitaph, while the whole island participates in the festive celebration, which makes the pilgrimage of Paros on the 15th of August, among the three most important in Greece.
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