‘Wish Trees’ Attract Visitors in Saint Voukolos Greek Orthodox Church

Katerina Papathanasiou | 26 August 2015
The olive and myrtle tree saplings that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and İzmir mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu planted on February 6 at the exterior space of Saint Voukolos Greek Orthodox Church have now become main tourist attractions.
‘Wish Trees’ Attract Visitors in Saint Voukolos Greek Orthodox Church

According to Orthodox Christian historians, Saint Voukolos lived during the early Christian times and was the first Christian bishop of Smyrna (present-day İzmir).

It is reported that he was ordained by Saint John the Evangelist and after his death, martyr Polycarp was appointed as his successor. It is believed that his tomb is located in the church’s courtyard while his memory is celebrated on February 6.

The historic church reopened its doors after extensive renovations and has since been attracting numerous visitors and locals, who hasten to tie pieces of cloth to the branches of the myrtle tree to make their wishes to the Saint.

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.