What you will see
The magnificent church of Agios Apostolos o Neos (St. Apostle the Young) is located in the village of Agios Lavrentios and it is considered as one of the holy sanctuaries of Pelion. It was constructed around 1800 honoring St. Apostle the Young, who was born in Agios Lavrentios and had a dramatic life story, as he was tortured and executed by the Ottomans.
He was born in the village in 1667 AD and at a young age, migra to Constantinople to work in a tavern, as he had lost his parents. There, he was tortured and martyred by a Turkish commander for defending the rights of his countrymen in a dispute. He was decapitated at the age of 19 and his body was thrown in the sea, as the Ottomans feared that the Christians would want his body for burial and honors. However, some Orthodox Christians requested to take back the saint’s head that was transferred to the Vizier as proof of the execution, with the excuse of burial. After receiving it, they closed it on a silver tray and carried it to the church of Agios Dimitrios Taftalon. Around a century after the execution, in 1795, Dositheos Seleucias sended the head in the village, which was initially placed in the Church of St. Athanasius in order to be transferred in 1805 to the first church of St. Apostle the Young, which had been built in the place of his family home.
The present cross-shaped church has a beautiful steeple-clock and a small amphitheater in its courtyard. It celebrates every year in August 15 and 16, when a festival is organized with many people from all over Greece coming here to see the Holy Head and fulfill their promises to the miraculous Saint.
