Crete is marking the 60th anniversary of the return of the head of Saint Titus, the island’s first bishop, with a series of religious celebrations.

For the first time this year, the relic was taken from the Cathedral of Saint Titus in Heraklion and carried in a solemn procession to the historic city of Gortyna and later to the town of Tymbaki, according to the Archdiocese of Crete.

For island residents, the commemoration is more than a religious event. The relic is part of a collection of sacred objects that remained in Venice for nearly three centuries.

After Crete was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1669, the Venetians removed the relics kept in the Church of Saint Titus and transported them to Venice. Most of the apostle’s relics remain there, while his head was returned to Crete in 1966. It is now preserved in a silver reliquary at the Cathedral of Saint Titus in Heraklion.

Saint Titus was one of the closest disciples of the Apostle Paul and is counted among the Seventy Apostles. According to Church tradition, Paul entrusted him with organizing the Christian community in Crete and appointed him the island’s first bishop. Gortyna became the center of Titus’ preaching, and his ministry on the island is also associated with Paul’s Epistle to Titus.

On August 22, the relic was transported from Heraklion to Gortyna. It was carried into the surviving Byzantine basilica and symbolically placed on the ancient synthronon, a semicircular episcopal seat associated with Crete’s bishopric, which was located in Gortyna in antiquity.

The relic was then taken to the Church of Saint Titus in Tymbaki, where worshippers were able to venerate it throughout the night. The celebrations will conclude in Heraklion on August 25, the feast day of the Apostle Titus.