A religious icon lost in Tarpon Springs for 103 years has been found in Greece after the Florida city’s mayor traced it to the island of Aegina.
John Koulianos located the St Nicholas icon during a visit to Greece and is now seeking approval for it to be returned to St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs.
The Byzantine artwork was presented to the cathedral by people from Aegina in 1910. After being damaged in a fire in 1923, it was sent back to the island for restoration but never made the journey home.
St Nicholas icon discovered in Aegina
Mr Koulianos contacted Aegina’s mayor, who in turn called a local priest. The priest remembered the icon and helped locate it hanging on the back wall of a church on the island.
The mayor said the artwork was roughly the size of a film poster, making it impractical to take back to Florida as luggage.
“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,” Mr Koulianos said. “I was thinking about that, and maybe I could just grab it and that wasn’t going to happen.”
The discovery was made during a trip in July, according to the Tampa Bay Beacons, which reported that the local priest had agreed in principle to give the icon back. The transfer must still be approved by church authorities in Greece and the United States.
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, which includes Florida, has not publicly confirmed whether the necessary authorisation has been granted.
Planned return during Epiphany celebrations
If permission is secured, the icon could be brought back to Tarpon Springs during the city’s Epiphany celebrations on 6 January 2027.
The occasion is also expected to include a ceremony formalising a sister-city relationship between Tarpon Springs and Aegina. Aegina’s mayor, Ioannis Zorbas, has accepted an invitation to attend the celebrations in Florida.
Mr Koulianos said the icon represented a long-standing connection between the two communities, which share links through the Greek immigrants who helped establish Tarpon Springs’ sponge-diving industry.
“This icon is kind of evidence that we did have a relationship with this island and the people there because they presented this to us over 100 years ago,” he said.
The fragile painting, which still bears damage from the historic fire, is expected to remain inside the cathedral if its return is approved.
