Holy Church of the Dormition of the Virgin

The Metropolitan Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, together with its imposing bell tower, constitutes an architectural landmark of Tenedos. The church was erected in the mid-19th century under Metropolitan Kallinikos of Mytilene, later Patriarch of Alexandria, while the four-storey bell tower (1893) was funded by the Tenedian Kavounis family and built of red volcanic ignimbrite sourced from the quarries of Sarmousak in Ayvalik.

The churches of Tenedos fall under the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Imbros and Tenedos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. With the gradual decline of the Greek Community from the 1970s onward, the monument suffered significant deterioration, further aggravated by the region’s seismic activity. Despite interventions by the Turkish state in 2004 and 2020, the church and its bell tower had reached a state of imminent risk.

the modernization of the electromechanical (E/M) installations, thus completing a three-year project. With its completion, the church— a symbol of Hellenism on the island—was reborn.
The solemn reopening ceremony took place on Sunday, 27 July 2025, presided over by Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imbros and Tenedos, and in the presence of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Also in attendance were hierarchs, representatives of the State and the diplomatic corps, local authorities, associations of Tenedians and Imbrians, as well as a large number of faithful and friends of Tenedos.

DONATION OF THE NON-PROFIT CIVIL COMPANY AEGEAS

• Restoration and full renovation of the church and its surrounding area.