The vigilant guards of the blessed Virgin

By Efi Karageorgou
Forty-Tinian’s and this year the vigilant guards of the Virgin mary for the weekend of the Assumption. Volunteers for…
72 hours will supervise and monitor everything, so that nothing happens to disturb the sanctity of one of the biggest celebrations of Orthodoxy, the Dormition of the Virgin mary.
The 40 volunteers, along with the 39 permanent and 58 temporary employees of the pan-Hellenic Holy Institution of Evaggelistria of Tinos, they have one and only concern these days, to serve the miracle.
Weeks many before it is drawn up the plan of a great celebration, with passion and awe, waiting for all of the residents of tinos, participating in their way in the ritual of the summer. Proud and ολόχαροι for the Virgin and for the daily miracles.
The miracle they say it is a leap of the heart. A flash of light that poured like lightning. The divine and the miracle acquire their own existence in Tinos island for many centuries.
And it is the insatiable thirst of the believer to find the miracle that leads to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to the island. In the same way that in ancient times the pilgrims θαλασσοδέρνονταν days in the waves of the Mediterranean to reach the island of Tinos to venerate the sanctuary of Poseidon and Amphitrite in “Kionia”, with the purpose to cure them of the disease.
The miracle in Tinos counts more than 2,500 years.
Today -despite the crisis – close to 1 million the number of believers, who, throughout the duration of the time they arrive on the island for their vow and worship the image of the Virgin mary. The icon of the Annunciation of the Virgin, loaded by precious votive offerings, is for them a point of hope and consolation.
The image of the Virgin mary has a pilgrimage chieftains of the Revolution of 1821, such as Theodoros Kolokotronis, who dedicated the ring of the Virgin mary, kings of the Greek state, famous people and movie stars, such as Aliki Vougiouklaki, who baptized her son in the Church of the Annunciation, Olympians who have dedicated their medals and the thousands of people who deposit their savings in the lap of the Virgin mary, in anticipation of the miracle.
But there’s always the Δεκαπενταύγουστος brings to mind and the torpedoing of the “Ellis”. The τορπιλάκατος, decorated with flags, was at the port of Tinos and just before the detachment that would accompany the image of the Virgin mary out in the land took the torpedo from the Italian submarine.
The feast turned into lamentation for the 9 lads who lost their lives on that Thursday, 1940. Their names are mentioned every year.
In 2015, the pan-Hellenic Holy Foundation of Evangelistria of Tinos”) granted 730 requests of our fellow human beings in all of Greece who were in need of assistance and offered in Tinos.
For the record, we mention that the requests for assistance have multiplied in the last few years. In 2009, before we enter in the deep waters of the crisis, it was 370 and this year it is estimated that it will reach 1,000.
In 2015, the total revenue of the Sanctuary Foundation reached 3,13 million. The greater part of the amount was used for the operation of two private law Unit Care of the Elderly (which accommodates 30 elders and employs 11 staff) and the Foundation of Tinian Culture.
Still supported, the Municipality of Tinos, the School of Marble crafts of the Tower and the Holy Metropolis of Syros.
The miracle
The miracle has continued. The Virgin mary of Tinos is a helper for the financially weak fellow citizens, without discrimination of nationality and religion. And while he financially supports students with aids for the first expenses and scholarships.
Besides donation of the ” is the land in which were built the 3rd City and 3rd Nursery school of the Municipality of Tinos, like the indoor Gym.
The revenue of the ” are shrinking in the years of the crisis, with an average fall of 40%. The proceeds from the παγκάρια, donations and bequests, interest, rents, sale of publications, sale of gold and silver ταμάτων is revenue funded by a rich philanthropic work and actions that promote art and culture.
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