The Holy Relics of St. Valentine Lie on Lesbos Island

Greece, Mytilene, February 14, 2015

The Municipality of Lesbos will commemorate Saint Valentine with a series of events at the Church of Metastasis of Virgin Mary in Mytilene where the holy relics of the saint lie.

The Greek Post Office, honoring Saint Valentine and Lesvos where the holy relics are hosted since 1907, issued a series of stamps and numismatic special commemorative envelopes that will travel around the world.

A series of events took place yesterday and will continue today. Yesterday, the Municipal Band participated in the procession of the holy relics of the saint, in the market and at the Mytilene waterfront.

Today, Saturday, February 14, at the Municipal Theatre of Mytilene at 7:30 p.m., there will be love song concert with the participation of famous artists.

Saint Valentine is not mentioned anywhere in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. The Greek Orthodox Church suggests to lovers to celebrate their love the day before, on February 13, in memory of Saints Aquila and Priscilla.

How the bones of Saint Valentine culminated in Greece

Saint Priscilla is somehow connected with Saint Valentine as the beheaded body of Valentine was buried in the catacomb of the church honoring Saint Priscilla in the year 270.

The Pope Saint Gelasius sanctified Valentine in 496 and his martyrdom was particularly respected and honored by the Roman Catholic Church. The eternal repose of the saint was disrupted in 1815, when the Pope donated his relics to a noble Italian priest.

However, in 1907 the relics of Saint Valentine somehow ended up in Mytilene, at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady. It seems that after the death of the Italian priest, one of his descendants inherited the holy relics and migrated to the island of Lesbos. At the time, the island had a thriving community of western-European Catholic Christians.

The relics of Saint Valentine remained there until 1990, when they were transferred to Athens, in the church of Saints Francis and Clara of the Italian community. In 2014, they were transferred to Mytilene again.