The return ceremony of icons that had been stolen from the Temples of Imvros took place on Tuesday 10 August 2021, informs orthodoxtimes.

The images were handed over to the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Nabi Avcı, in the presence of Metropolitan of Imvros and Tenedos Cyril and a number of officials, in a hall of the Museum of Troy.

According to media reports, these icons were stolen in 2007 in three villages on the island of Imbros. The thieves were caught in 2007, but from then until 2021 the trials continued. The icons have been in the museum all these years, and now they have been transferred to the Church of Constantinople.