Panagia Argokoiliotisa Church, church building in Naxos and Small Cyclades Municipality, Greece
Panagia Argokoiliotisa is a pilgrimage complex at Argokoili, 4 km past Koronos in northeastern Naxos, covering about 25 stremmata. A small church of the Virgin was built in 1851; the small church of Agia Anna was added in 1962 over the well leading to the cave where the icon was found. Construction of a new, larger church east of the original began in 1997, and cells for pilgrims stand on the site.
The icon venerated here, a double-sided relief of wax-mastic measuring about 5 by 5.2 cm, was found at Argokoili in 1836; it shows the Annunciation on one face and the Baptism of Christ on the other. A small cell was first built to guard it, and in 1851 a church of the Panagia was erected on the spot. In 1962 the small chapel of Agia Anna was added over the well shaft leading to the cave, and in 1997 work began on a larger church to the east.
The site is called a Panaxian pilgrimage, and stories of the miracle-working icon are told across almost all the Cyclades, not only locally. The pilgrimage is celebrated on the Friday of Easter Week (Diakainisimos).
The church can be reached by bus services from Chora that connect to Koronos with regular daily departures from the main town. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear and check local service times to experience the living religious community.
The icon was found in 1836 at Argokoili, a location whose name means "lamb's hollow"; the small relief, just 5 by 5.2 cm, is carved from a beeswax-and-mastic mixture and shows the Annunciation on one face and the Baptism of Christ on the other. It was later stolen and lost.
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