Today is the first Sunday of Lent, Sunday of Orthodoxy. This day signifies the importance of icons in the Orthodox religion and the defeat of iconoclasm.
The iconoclasts were those who believed that images should be prohibited under Mosaic law. They thought that icons could not represent both the divine and the human nature of the Christ.
On Skopelos the church Panagia Luvadiotisa (on the road to the monasteries) was the place to be today. Everybody takes an icon that they want to honor to this church and afterwards they walk back to the town in a procession.
Lots of people were around both inside and outside the church. Everybody wanted to light a candle and pay their respect to the icons in the church. The church lies between several outbuildings which were part of a small monastery. It was nice to see how, with much pride, people carried around their icons. They were also very willing to get their photograph taken.
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