Imvros, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Chapel

The consecration (inauguration) of the chapel of Saints Constantine and Helen in Imvroswas an opportunity for the true side of the coexistence between Greeks and Turks but also of alignment of the religions of these two communities to become known to the Greeks.

Imvros is the birthplace of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the residents who have started returning to the island after decades away from their homeland, have dedicated a small museum to the life and the work of the Patriarch. In year2000, only 160 Greeks remained in Imvros, while today that number has quintuplicated including 39 students and 13 babies.

The history of the island is "fatally" connected with the history of the coexistence or the difficulty of the coexistence of these two peoples, depending on the prevailing political conditions. Todaythat the conditions seem favorable, Greek-Turkish relations in Imvros are good and the two peoples coexist. The chapel located at AgioiTheodoroi in Imvros was a monastery dependency of the Mount Athos MegistiLavra monastery, and with the speech of his Holiness, who officiated the Mass, it was brought back to life, reminding the devastation of the monasteries and the distribution of territories in the years of the Occupation. The opening of the doors (consecration), the existence of a school and the Greek element, put Imvros back on the map of our interests and invite us to pay a visit to this land of peaceful coexistence, in a beautiful, unspoiled island.