St. Fanourios
St.
Fanourios is celebrated on August 27 and his little church
is located on a hill above Skiathos Town. It
is well worth a visit and has a fantastic view.
Despite being an enormously popular saint almost nothing is known about St.
Fanourios. His icon was found on Rhodes in the 16th century, after Saracens
had destroyed a church during one of their many raids. Some Christians discovered
a crypt underneath the ruined church and here was an icon of a young soldier
named Fanourios.
The only things we know about him come from the icon itself: the wooden cross he carries tells us he was a martyr and his armour that he was a soldier. He must have died young as he is depicted as a youth and his name, Fanourios, means the Revealer, the One Who reveals. In one hand he holds a lighted candle or a torch, which perhaps emphasises his name.
Because
of his name and the fact that his icon was found in the way it was, St. Fanourios
has become the saint of all things lost. You can also go to St. Fanourios
if you have lost a feeling, your health or an old friend, for example.
On his day women
take a sweet pie called Faneropita to his church, where the priest blesses
it. Anyone who eats the pie will supposedly dream that night of where the
thing he or she has lost can be found. Unmarried women wrap a piece of the
pie in tin foil and put it under their pillows to dream of their future husbands.
For photos of the celebration click here.
You can find a described walk to the Church of St. Fanourios in our book "Exploring
Skiathos Town - with Three Suggested Walks".
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