Religious icon missing from Florida church for over 100 years discovered in Greece

A religious icon missing for more than 100 years could return to Florida after the mayor of Tarpon Springs found it hanging at a church in Greece.

Tarpon Springs Mayor John Koulianos located the missing icon of St. Nicholas during a trip to Greece. While there, he met with Ioannis Zorbas, mayor of Aegina, the Greek island whose immigrants gave the icon to the original St. Nicholas Greek Church in Tarpon Springs in 1910.

“The icon was presented by a group of immigrants from the island of Aegina to the original St. Nicholas Greek Church back in 1910. A fire damaged the icon and it was returned back to Greece in 1923 in an attempt to be restored,” Koulianos stated in a Facebook post earlier this month.

“On our vacation to Europe in July, I made a special trip to Aegina to arrange for the completion of the twinning ceremony as well as attempting to locate the icon for its return to Tarpon Springs,” the mayor continued. “I believe I may have been successful in achieving both goals.”

During their meeting, the Aegina mayor called a local priest who knew where the icon was, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reports.

Koulianos found the icon, which dates back to the Byzantine Empire, hanging on the back wall of Panagitsa Church.

“It's about the size of maybe like a movie poster, it's about this big, a little bit too big to put in a suitcase,” Koulianos told Fox 13 Tampa Bay. “I was thinking about that, and maybe I could just grab it, and that wasn't going to happen.”

It remains unclear whether Greek Orthodox Church officials in Florida and Greece will authorize the icon’s return to Tarpon Springs. Meanwhile, Koulianos and the Aegina mayor are working to formalize a sister-city relationship between their communities.

According to Koulianos’ Sept. 9 Facebook post, the Aegina mayor has accepted his invitation to attend a 2027 Epiphany service when he visits Florida in January.

“We are also working on completing a reunion over 100 years in the making. Bringing a special icon of St. Nicholas back to our St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs,” Koulianos added. “With the blessing of our Metropolitan Sebastian, along with the assistance of our parish priest, Father Aristides, we are hopeful to make this a reality.”