The Catholics of the Cyclades

The Cyclades are home to around 12,000 Catholics, or 10% of the 120,000 population. The archipelago is organized as a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical province, with three dioceses. The diocese of Syros and Milos groups around 6,800 faithful, mainly in Syros, where they account for a quarter of the island's population. The archdiocese of Naxos, Tinos, Andros and Mykonos has a Catholic population of 4,000, including around 3,000 in Tinos, representing 35% of the island's population - the highest proportion of Catholics in Greece. Finally, some 450 people belong to the diocese of Santorini. The Orthodox Church, for its part, is organized into two metropolises (bishoprics): that of Syros, which covers most of the archipelago, with its seat at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Ermoupoli, in Syros, and that of Santorini, which also has jurisdiction over Anafi, Ios, Amorgos and the Lesser Cyclades.

Catholic Communities

Cycladic Catholics live in their own neighborhoods in the main towns: around the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (1823) and the Dominican convent in Fira (Santorini), near the Co-Cathedral of the Presentation of Christ in Naxos or around St. George's Cathedral in Syros. The latter was founded around 1200 and rebuilt in 1834. Located on the hill of Ano Syros, in Ermoupoli, it faces the Orthodox cathedral of St. Nicholas, which dominates the other hill in the prefecture. In Tinos, Catholics are present in Chora and "own" several villages in the south-east of the island, such as Loutra (pop. 35), where the Ursuline convent (1862) traditionally welcomes young girls from good families all over the country. Not far away, Xinara (pop. 40) is the second Catholic "capital" of the Cyclades after Ermoupoli. It boasts a church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary (1870).

Cohabitation

The Greek Orthodox, who are in the majority, live in harmony with their Catholic compatriots in the Cyclades. In Tinos, for example, there are many mixed villages where both communities have their own church, as in Ktikados, Steni and Kardiani. So as not to stand out, the archipelago's Catholics follow the Byzantine liturgical calendar. They celebrate Easter at the same time as all Greeks, whereas Catholic and Orthodox Easter are often staggered by several weeks. However, Catholics are discriminated against. They are discredited and sometimes perceived as heretics, though less so than Protestants. They are still frequently referred to as "Franks" (Frangi), a pejorative term that recalls the difficult period of Latin occupation (Frankokratia) in the Middle Ages. But the main inequality concerns public support: while Orthodox priests are paid as civil servants by the state, Catholic clergy have to fend for themselves and struggle to attract vocations.

Catholics elsewhere in Greece

The country is home to around 200,000 Roman Catholics. Of these, 50,000 are Greek, concentrated in Athens and the Cyclades. There are also communities in Thessalonica (4,000), the Ionian Islands (3,800), Crete (3,500), the Dodecanese (1,500) and Chios (500). Foreigners are mainly present in Athens, and come from Poland and the Philippines. There are also two Catholic communities that recognize the Pope, but whose rites are similar to those of the Orthodox (marriage of priests, icon worship, etc.). Firstly, there are almost a thousand Armenian Catholics, mainly Greek citizens living in Athens and Thessalonica. And around 6,000 belong to the Hellenic Greek Catholic Church, founded in the 15th century: mainly Greeks, Ukrainians and Bulgarians, in Athens, Macedonia and the Cyclades. This Byzantine-rite Catholic Church also has members in Turkey, as well as in Cargèse, Corsica, where Greek exiles from Magne (Peloponnese) settled in the 17th century.

Pilgrimages to Tinos

Tinos is considered the "Lourdes of Greece": an important site for miracles and Christian pilgrimages. On August 15, two feast days are held in connection with the cult of Mary, the mother of Christ. Since 1830, Orthodox Christians have celebrated Panagia Evangelistria ("All-Holy Bearer of Good News") in the vast church of the same name at the top of the main town. This is Greece's largest pilgrimage, normally attracting around 50,000 people for the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Such is the devotion that most of the faithful walk the 800 m from the port to the church on their knees. Catholics, for their part, have been gathering on the same day for the feast of the Assumption since the 17th century at the church of Panagia Vrisiotissa ("All-Holy-Source" or "Who-Ever-Appeared"), above the beach of Agios Romanos, 9 km northwest of the main town. The worshippers here are mostly Tinos residents, and far fewer in number than at the Orthodox pilgrimage to Panagia Evangelistria. But it's still the largest Catholic gathering in Greece. As well as taking place on the same day on the same island, both pilgrimages have their origins in the same belief in the discovery of a miraculous icon of the Mother of God.

Orthodox monasteries

Dominated by Venetian lords and Catholic clergy from 1205 onwards, the Cyclades have preserved only three Orthodox monasteries from the Byzantine period: Panagia Panachrantos (10th century) on Andros, Prophet Elias (1154) on Sifnos and, most impressively, Panagia Chozoviotissa (11th century) on the cliffs of Amorgos. But the archipelago returned to Byzantine traditions during the Ottoman era (1537-1832). The sultans entrusted power to the Greek Church: as Rome's influence waned, the islands were covered with Orthodox monasteries. These included the 16th-century St Pantaleon monastery on Kea, the 17th-century Panagia Chrisopigi on Sifnos and the Panagia Tourliani (1542) on Mykonos.