The monastery of St. Dionyssios is located on
Mt.
Olympus at an altitude of 900 m, and is 18 km from
Litochoro.
It is built at a naturally fortified position between two small streams, which
become on - the Enipeas. Today, the Monastery can be reached through a detour
in the forest road, concluding at Prionia, where the climb for the highest peak
of
Mt. Olympus begins.
According to historical sources, the Monastery was founded in the
first half of the 16th century by Saint Dionyssios, and was dedicated to the Holy
Trinity. During its 400 years of existence, it constituted a strong religious
and economic power in the area. The Monastery owned forestland, lumber facilities,
water-mills, flour-mills and animals. Since the beginning of our century, it has
not been operating properly, with a total of only 7 monks. However, the Monastery
was very popular with the natives of
Central
and
Western Macedonia, as
a place of worship, as well as to the mountain climbers.
In 1943 it was considered by the Germans to be the base of the resistance
groups of the area, which was the reason why they destroyed it both by means of
bombing and detonation. Since then, the new Monastery has been based in Metochi,
the existence of which is evident since 1953 under the name "Skala",
near Litochoro.
The worship of Saint Dionyssios, its founder, to whom miracles have
been attributed, as well as its privileged opposition on the mountain of the gods
of Greek Mythology assign, to the monastery a uniqueness by which it attracts
many Greek and foreign visitors.
(text: Dionysia Tsirou)
This text (extract) is cited October 2003 from the Prefecture
of Pieria - Municipality
of Litochoron tourist pamphlet.
