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History

This Holy Monastery was founded in the 7th century by Emperor Constantine IV, Pogonatus (668-685 A.D.) on his return from an expedition to Sicily in 671-672. From the 12th to the 17th centuries the Stavropighial Holy Monastery of Panagia Molyvdoskepastos has also served as the seat of the Pogonian Archdiocese.

During the Turkish rule the monastery was a spiritual, cultural, and economic center of the area. Indicatively, in the 14th century a school for scribes (chirographers) was set up in which priest-teachers taught the art of transcription of manuscripts to monks and lay people. It is noteworthy that many scholars and writers of the time graduated from this school. The Holy Monastery had large dependencies (metochia) in the Danubian Principalities. Outside its walls, to the northwest, there was a large commercial center the so called, even today, Pazari area, which assisted the monastery’s finances.

After 1913 the monastery remained without monks, its properties were encroached and its holy artifacts and relics were stolen. In 1943, when the area was bombarded by the Nazis, it was almost razed to the ground. The cells and the archive were burnt down and the Catholicon was plundered. In 1988 the monastery was manned once more by the present day brotherhood with the encouragement and guidance of the recently canonized Saint Paisios the Athonite and the blessings of the late Metropolitan Sebastianos.

Architecture of the Katholikon

The Catholicon of the Holy Monastery features a unique architectural style which evolved with the gradual increase of the Monastery’s needs, both liturgical and practical. This architectural particularity also appears in the way the iconographic cycles were organized on the church walls. The original Church - Catholicon, according to an inscription attributed to its founder, was built in 670 AD by the Emperor Constantine IV, the Pogonatus. More specifically, the existing Catholicon underwent three architectural phases of modification.

1st phase: During the 11th and 12th centuries the original church was rebuilt into a small cross–plan church with three vaults and a dome.

2nd phase: At the end of the 13th century and in the beginning of the 14th the middle cross vaulted section was added by Andronicus Paleologus. At about the same time two chapels were added: that of old Timios Prodromos (Saint John the Baptist) in the south, and Agia Paraskevi (Saint Paraskevi) in the north.

3rd phase: Around the year 1521 inhabitants of the nearby village old Pogoniani carried out renovations to the Catholicon and added a large narthex (the Lite) consisting of three parts.

Frescos of the Katholikon

The existing frescos of the Catholicon are in some places in three successive layers: one Byzantine and two post – Byzantine. The older frescos of the church date back to the beginning of the 14th century. Two iconographers of different styles but of the same technique can be distinguished probably belonging to the same workshop. The Catholicon was hagiographed once more in 1521-2 covering over parts of the original Byzantine frescos by an iconographer who apparently wanted to remain anonymous as he characteristically signs “God knows whose all this labour was”. Nowadays both layers, although overlapping, can be discerned in the lower parts of the western wing of the cross- vaulted section.

In 1537, after extensive damage, possibly from an earthquake, architectural parts were added to the Naive (enlargement of arches, columns, etc) and it was decorated anew by Eustathios Iakovou, a Protonotarius from Arta, whose signature appears on the hagiography of the historical chapel of the Holy Monastery of Mavriotissa in Kastoria.

The Thaumaturgical (Miracle - Working) Icon of Virgin Mary Molyvdoskepastos

The creation of the icon is unknown. After being stolen and left exposed to weather, it suffered great damage. The rotten parts were cut off and it was retouched in parts. There are historical references to a number of thefts of the icon as well as its miraculous return to the monastery. There is a strong and continuous sense of the living presence of Virgin Mary in the life of the Holy Monastery. The signs that testify Virgin Mary’s love for it Is the large number of miracles witnessed to this day. Virgin Mary continuous to perform miracles: She cures incurable diseases, give children to childless couples, and so on. In the past, unmarried girls would carry Mary’s icon in a procession imploring Her to relieve them of drought, chase away the locust, help patients to recover, etc.

An overwhelming miraculous intervention by Virgin Mary took place around the end of the Balkan Wars. When the representatives of the Great Powers of Europe came to the region to define the borders between Greece and the newly established Albanian state, they decided that the Holy Monastery would be given to the Albanian state. But the Lord and Virgin Mary thought otherwise. At the announcement of their decision, the horses they were riding, suddenly, and without any reason, bolted and threw down their European masters. They were shocked by Mary’s intervention and as new Sauls, they revised their decision, which is why the Monastery is on this side, of yet so close to, the Greek-Albanian borders.

The Holy Monastery is open to visitors from dawn to sunset daily all year round, except on Wednesdays. On Fridays, it is open after 12 p.m.

Location

The Holy Patriarchal and Stavropigian Monastery of Molyvdoskepastos is located in the region of Ioannina near the town of Konitsa. The Holy Monastery is 55 km away from Ioannina and 20 km from Konitsa. It is set in an important geostrategic position just a few hundred meters from the Greek-Albanian border and 400 meters from the confluence of the Aoos and the Sarantaporos rivers, at the foot of mount Meropi-Nemertsika. Its unique setting together with its long history makes this monasterial complex one of the most prestigious monuments in the wider region of Epirus and a point of reference for Greek history.