Religious Tourism in Greece

Probably not a bad idea considering that the timing for religious tourism is good and Greece has Greek temples, biblical sites and religious festivals to offer.

Men Only
Male travellers with a permit can visit Mount Athos in northern Greece. Here they can experience a semi-autonomous republic of Greek Orthodox monks inhabiting 20 monasteries. Homer in the Iliad discussed the Mount Athos, and women will have to rely on Homers and other male accounts of the site as a traditional prohibition bars women and female animals from the Holy Mountain. The churches contain some of the most important examples of Byzantine art, icons, and treasures even though the Athos community suffered greatly from Turkish ravages during the War of Greek Independence (1821-29) when entire libraries were burned. Some 1,500 monks live there abiding by strict Byzantine rules, which visitors also must abide by. Prince Charles and Russian President Vladimir Putin are some of the dignitaries who have visited Mount Athos, a Unesco World Heritage site since 1988.

Temples
As the centre of the ancient Greek world, Greece naturally has the highest concentration of ancient Greek temples. The most famous is the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis of Athens. It was built to give thanks to Athena, the city's patron goddess, who saved Athens and Greece in the Persian Wars. Parthenon has functioned not just as a Greek temple, but also as a treasury, a fortress, a Christian Church, and even a Muslim mosque. Other temples include The Temples of Apollo and Tholos in Delphi (photo), the Erechtheion Temple in Athens and many more.

Biblical sites
According to the New Testament Saint Paul, Saint Titus, Saint John and many more Biblical figures spent time in Greece. Consequently one of the popular religious tours in Greece is to follow in the footsteps of St. Paul. These tours often include Corinth, Philippi, Crete and Patmos. St. Paul first visited Philippi in 49 AD preaching the gospel to Europe and baptizing Lydia, a Jewish merchant (Acts 16:14-15). St. Paul visited Corinth several times in the 50's AD spending 18 months working as a tentmaker and converting as many Jews and pagans as he could during his first visit (Acts 18:1-18). His first Epistle to the Corinthians reflects the difficulties of maintaining a Christian community in a cosmopolitan city as Corinth. Other popular pilgrimage places for both Orthodox and Western Christians are the basilica of St. Titus, one of Paul's disciples, on the island Crete. Most Greek island cruises also stopover at the tiny Dodecanese island of Patmos where the fortress-like monastery of St. John the Divine is located as well as the Cave of the Apocalypse, where St. John is believed to have received his revelations.

Virgin Mary
One of the most revered religious icons in Greece is the Virgin Mary on the tiny Tinos Island with only. 8,000 inhabitants. In antiquity the island was known for its cult of Poseidon and Amphitrite, but in the 13th century Venetians arrived introducing Roman Catholicism. Following the discovery of an icon of the Virgin Mary in 1822 by a nun named Pelagia, Tínos became a Greek Orthodox place of pilgrimage. The Church of Panayía Evangelistría (Our Lady of Good Tidings) was built in 1824 to house the icon, which is honoured for its healing powers. A road of local marble leads pilgrims for the feasts of the Annunciation and Assumption to this sanctuary. On August 15 each year devout Christians come to celebrate the Virgin Mary climbing up the one kilometre to the church - the most devout on their knees. Inside the church hundreds of gold and silver hanging lamps and beeswax candles illuminate the holy icon of the Virgin richly adorned with gifts, so the original icon is hidden behind gold, silver, pearls and other gems. You must then patiently wait in line to see the small icon.

Religious Tourism Potential
Greece has plenty of authentic sacred sites and traditional holy festivals, which may be combined with nature-based attractions and activities. There is no doubt a potential for growth in religious tourism in Greece. But, as elsewhere religious tourism is a fragile balance between commercialisation and sacred sites. If tackled optimally by digging deeper into the underlying cultural resources such as festivals, architecture, crafts, and gastronomy, then religious tourism can certainly prove to be a successful enterprise for Greece.

Related articles
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Religious Tourism, Pilgrimages are a forerunner to modern-day heritage tourism going back thousands of years

Related information
"Tourism, religion and spiritual journeys" by D.J. Timcothy and D.H. Olsen (ed.), 2006, London, Routledge
Sacred and Religious sites of Greece, www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/sacred-sites.htm