Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Places of worship for destination: "SKIATHOS Island NORTH SPORADES".
Panagia Eikonistria is the most holy site of the island since the miraculous icon of Virgin Mary (Panagia) was found here around 1650. An important intellectual figure of the island and of the Church, Dionysios the Old, was a monk in this monastery. The "Katholikon" of the monastery (its church) which is honoured on the day of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary each year, is a basilica of one aisle with a dome, built in the 17th century. All the church has been painted with hagiographs but the smoke from the many candles has caused extensive damage.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains images.
Immersed in the greenery, deep in the Lekhounio gorge beside the springs
in the place called Agalianos, under Karaphlytzanakia, the highest peak on Skiathos,
stands the Holy Communal Monastery dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin,
The Evangelistrias Monastery or Vangelistrias as it is called by the Skiathians.
Construction of the monastery was started in 1794 by a group of kollyvados monks
who had been forced to leave the Holy Mount of Athos in the face of disturbances
resulting from disputes over the celebration of Canonical Requiem Masses Saturdays
rather than Sundays. The objective was a return to the tradition of the Ancient
Orthodox Church. The group leader was Niphon, an Ordained Monk, whose worldly
name was Nicholas "from the line of the Nicholarades", who was born in 1736 at
the village of Patrika on the island of Chios. He served in the Monastery of the
Greatest Banner and the retreat of the Omnipotent on the Holy Mount of Athos.
Initially he went to Samos, Patmos, Leipso and Icaria where, in 1775, he founded
the monastery of the Annunciation at Leucada. Amongst the monks at the Monastery
of the Annunciation was one Gregorios Khadjistamatis, a Skiathian, who, upon the
death of his father, inherited extensive property on Skiathos. Possessing this
large estate Gregorios persuaded Niphon to move to the green island of Skiathos
and establish a new monastery, abandoning Icaria "for the all-pervading barrenness
and unwholesomeness of the place".
Construction of the monastery complex was completed in 1806 and it
became the epicenter of the kollyvados both during the disputation and in the
following years. The kollyvados spirit has profoundly influenced the life of the
Skiathian islanders and that most significant writer of (modern) Greek prose,
Alexander Papadiamantis and also of the Skiathian author Alexander Moraitidis.
Father Niphon, first abbot and founder of the monastery passed away at the age
of 73 on the 28th of December 1809. The second abbot and cofounder were the Skiathian
Gregorios Khadjistamatis (1809 - 1815). Subsequently, and to this day, there have
been 30 other abbots the last of-whom is the present abbot, Father Angelos Lyssaris.
The Monastery of the Annunciation provided significant moral and
material assistance to the pre-revolutionary movements as well as during the revolution
of 1821. It was there, that in the year 1807, the first Greek flag with the white
Cross at its center on a blue ground was designed, woven, blessed and raised.
It was on this flag that Father Niphon swore in the guerrilla leaders Theodore
Kolokotronis, Andreas Miaoulis, Papathymios Vlakhavas, Iannis Stathas, Nikotsaras,
the Skiathian Teacher of the Nation, Epiphanios - Stephanos Dimitriadis and many
others following the great assembly held at the monastery to lay out plans to
liberate the (Greek) Nation. The philosopher priest, Theophilos Kairis, following
his conviction by the Holy Synod in 1839, was confined to the Monastery.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains images.
The Church of "Christos sto Kastro" was the cathedral of the medieval city. It is a basilica with a wood cut roof, built in the 17th century. It has worthwhile frescoes and a nice wood cut icon screen dated in 1695. This is the church which has been praised the most by Alexandros Papadiamantis and Alexandros Moraitidis in their Christmas novels.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains images.
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