Greece gifted France a unique religious icon for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday, portraying Virgin Mary holding a beehive.
The icon, an exact copy of “Panagia Melissou” (Virgin Mary of the Bees, meaning the protector of the bees), was presented by Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of the Hellenic Republic, who was invited to the reopening event along with dozens of other world leaders. The symbolic gesture reaffirms the ever-lasting friendship between Greece and France, which is also inscribed on the bottom of the icon.
The distinctive icon was crafted by a hieromonk in Mount Athos (Agion Oros in Greek), Greece’s unique male monastic society in northeastern Greece, directly on the Aegean Sea. The idea of gifting the specific icon was brought forward by Father George (Alevras) of Mount Athos, who presented the icon to the Greek government.
Why Greece gifted this unique holy icon
Notre Dame Cathedral, the 860-year-old landmark in Paris, was nearly destroyed by a massive fire on April 15, 2019. Following the tragedy, news came that the hundreds of thousands of bees that lived in hives inside Notre Dame’s roof were alive and well, according to the beekeeper that was overseeing them. “Thank goodness flames didn’t touch them,” Nicolas Geant, the 51-year-old beekeeper told CNN at the time. “It’s a miracle.”
The Mount Athos hieromonk, after gifting the icon, told Romfea.gr that bees have an “excellent and ideal society,” adding that the bees “will hopefully inspire us so we can rebuild the Church of unity and love and live again like the first Christians did.”
Father George, a charismatic hieromonk, has long been an advocate for the protection of bees worldwide after realizing the importance bees have in our societies. In May 2021, in celebration of UN’s World Bee Day, he blessed the beekeepers of the world saying that “the bee is a unique gift from God to man, a lasting blessing that we must protect like the apple of our eyes. Everything is possible for the miraculous bee which, although small can achieve so many great things that we ‘the great men’ cannot achieve.”
The fascinating story behind the icon of “Panagia Melissou”
Virgin Mary in Greece has hundreds of different names or titles, with all of them symbolizing a different story or giving her different properties, like “Eleousa” (merciful), “Vrefokratousa” (infant bearer) and “Megalomata” (with big eyes). While many can date back to hundreds of years, “Panagia Melissou” is probably one of its much later versions.
In 2006, Father George settled at a monastery dedicated to Virgin Mary near a small village of Karditsa, in western Thessaly, Greece. There, the priests, according to Father George, told him a remarkable story. Years before and until 2004, there was a beehive inside the church and every year, during some celebrations on September 8th, at the end of the mass they would also give to believers a small piece of honeycomb as a blessing. The bees were freely flying inside the church without ever bothering anyone.
In 2007, hieromonk Father Anastasios Tsikrikakis, visited the monastery along with some journalists, who asked him if there was a significant story behind the monastery and whether there’s a Virgin Mary icon with historical significance. That’s when Father George told them about the story of the bees living inside the church and Father Anastasios suggested that they craft a new Virgin Mary icon that is connected to the bees. He was the one who suggested the name, “Panagia Melissou.”
The first, original icon was crafted in September 2009. In 2017, it was put on display at the Monastery of St. John the Theologian (Artamitis) on the island of Rhodes, where it was replaced by a copy in 2019. The original “Panagia Melissou” icon has been at the Byzantine Cultural Center Panagia Melissou, in Trikala, Thessaly since 2018.
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