Thousands flock to Athens Cathedral to venerate rare icon

Thousands of faithful have been flocking to the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Plaka to venerate a rare Greek icon named Axion Esti from Mount Athos, with state broadcaster ERT reporting a waiting time of more than an hour and a half over the weekend.

The icon will be on public display on Monday as well, before heading back to the all-male monastic community in northern Greece. This is only the eighth time it has left Mount Athos.