Summary

Communities across Apokoronas marked the feast of St George Tropaiophoris on April 23–24, 2026, with liturgies held at several churches and villages throughout the area. The celebrations included an eve-of-feast service at the Monastery of Agios Georgios in Karidi and a feast-day service in Asi Gonia, as well as gatherings in Exopoli, Kournas, and Nippos. The events, described by the municipality as an expression of living local tradition, drew large numbers of worshippers.

St George's Day brings worshippers together across Apokoronas

Churches and monasteries across Apokoronas filled with worshippers on April 23 and 24, 2026, as communities throughout the area marked the feast of St George Tropaiophoris. The two-day celebrations drew large congregations to several villages, reflecting a tradition that remains central to religious and communal life in the region.

Services from the monastery to the villages

On the eve of the feast, an evening liturgy was held at the Monastery of Agios Georgios in Karidi, led by Metropolitan Titos of Kydonia and Apokoronas. On the feast day itself, services continued at the Church of Agios Georgios in Asi Gonia — known locally as "Galatas" — and at parishes in Exopoli, Kournas, Nippos, and other villages across the municipality.

A tradition rooted in everyday life

The celebrations are a fixture of the local calendar in Apokoronas, where numerous churches are dedicated to St George. Local livestock farmers, village communities and ordinary residents took part in the festivities, maintaining customs that have been passed down through generations.

The feast of St George falls on April 23 each year in Greece; when that date falls within Lent, it is moved to Easter Monday.

Press release – Written by the Mayor of Apokoronas, Charalampos Koukianakis. "Apokoronas of faith, tradition and inner strength"

April 24, 2026, 9:21 AM

Over these two days, Apokoronas proved — from one end to the other — that it remains alive not merely as a place, but as a soul. It celebrated St George Tropaiophoris, with a multitude of faithful flocking to the churches dedicated to his grace, confirming in the most authentic way the faith, the devotion and the deep spiritual identity of the people of our land.

We had the particular honour, on the eve of the feast, of being present at the Holy Monastery of Saint George in Karidi, with the venerable presence and presiding of the Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronas, His Eminence Titos.

On the feast day itself, the same spiritual presence continued at Agios Georgios in Asi Gonia — in what the locals call "Galatas" — but also in other parishes of Apokoronas, in Exopoli, Kournas, Nippos and in so many other places where faith is not a formal procedure, but a lived experience. What was clearly revealed through these moments is something deeper: the need of people to communicate spiritually.

The need to draw strength, to stand upright amid the difficulties of daily life and to continue their own struggle. Because, in essence, people do not simply attend — they rush, because they need it. And on this journey, the new shepherd, with his word — a living, fervent and substantial word — guides and inspires.

He gives perspective, he gives meaning. Our livestock farmers, with their generous hospitality. The simple people, with their deep and quiet devotion. Our communities, which keep alive the customs and the essence.

All of these compose an image that is not merely traditional — it is alive, it is dynamic, it is hopeful. Perhaps, in the end, this is also the most essential observation:

The time has come to rebuild — not only infrastructure and projects — but society.

A society worthy of our history.

A society that does not trap itself in the mundane and the petty.

A society that dares to turn towards the higher.

Because Apokoronas is a place with memory and faith.

And above all, it is people who still know — how to endure, to believe and to move forward.