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May 9, 2016

How St. Nicholas of Vounenis Became the Patron of Anifi in Nafplio


Saint Nicholas the New of Vounenis is particularly celebrated in Argolis, Greece on May 9th. More specifically, in the municipal district of Anifi in the municipality of Nafplio, where a cemetery chapel to Saint Nicholas the New was built at some unknown time in history.

Sometime in the decade of 1900-1910 residents from Thessaly came to Argolis and settled in Anifi in the area of the cemetery Chapel of Saint Nicholas the New. After commissioning an icon of Saint Nicholas the New the residents began to honor the Saint they also honored at his shrine in Thessaly. However, one year they did not honor him on his feast day, and all the crops of their village burned. Since the crops of no other village were burned but theirs, they saw this as a divine punishment for not honoring Saint Nicholas the New. This was how Saint Nicholas of Vounenis became their patron and they especially honor him, and at the initiative of the late Metropolitan Iakovos of Argolis a portion of the relics of Saint Nicholas the New was brought to the village. Both the icon and relic of the Saint are processed through the village every year on May 9th (evening of May 8th).