Mt. Athos Monks Hold Prayer Service After Earthquakes
Monks at Mt. Athos responded to recent earthquakes with prayer, invoking sacred relics for protection.
MT. ATHOS — A solemn prayer service was held on March 28, 2026, at the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, as monastics and pilgrims gathered to seek divine protection following a series of earthquakes that recently struck the region.
The service coincided with the Saturday of the Akathist Hymn and was organized in direct response to seismic activity, including tremors reaching magnitude 4.9 that affected Mt. Athos and surrounding areas in the preceding days. The earthquakes caused concern among residents and visitors, prompting both practical vigilance and spiritual response within the monastic community.
Following the Divine Liturgy, Abbot Elder Ephraim led a Holy Litany with the monastery’s sacred relics and the revered Holy Belt of the Theotokos. The procession encircled the katholikon as prayers were offered for the cessation of the earthquakes and the protection of the peninsula from further seismic threat.
Previously, the UOJ reported that four Mt. Athos monks were injured in a Greece highway accident.
