Every year on Renewal Tuesday (first Tuesday after Easter) The Holy Icon of Panagia Fovera Prostasia leads a procession around the monastery’s grounds. It begins at six in the morning and after a three hour mass in the Iviron Katholikon (main chuch) the monks and pilgrims walk around the Iviron, visiting sacred places with the icon.
Mount Athos is a 45 km long peninsula in northern Greece that is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries. It has a degree of autonomy within the Greek state and is governed by the Holy community under the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. A law, known as the 'Abaton', bans visits to the penninsula by any female and male visitors are restricted by permit.