Monastery of Saint Paraskevi: A Fifteenth-Century Orthodox Monastery in Greece
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Fortified Monastery
On this page11 sections
History
The Monastery of Saint Paraskevi is an abandoned Eastern Orthodox monastery in Greece, built by inhabitants of nearby Vitsa around 1413–1414 in the regional building tradition of Zagori. Standing on the edge of Vikos Gorge near Monodendri, it is regarded as the oldest monastery in Zagori and was founded during the rule of Carlo I Tocco, the Despot of Epirus.
Foundation and religious tradition
The monastery was constructed by people from Vitsa and financed by Michael Therianos, a local lord and voevoda, a high-ranking regional ruler in the medieval Balkans. Tradition connects its foundation with thanksgiving for the healing or rescue of Therianos’s daughter from a serious illness, described in one account as partial blindness. The monastery was dedicated to Saint Paraskevi, an Eastern Orthodox female saint associated with protection from and healing of eye diseases.
The daughter, named in the tradition as Theodora, is said to have lived at the monastery with nuns and devoted her life to Saint Paraskevi. Another tradition holds that ascetics had occupied caves northwest of the site from the thirteenth century and helped with the monastery’s construction. In later periods, the monastery often gave the surrounding population refuge and safety during times of danger.
Community and abandonment
While it remained active, the monastery was a women’s community that was periodically headed by a male abbot. Its nuns relied on donations and modest agricultural activities, including keeping goats, sheep, and beehives. The last abbot, Dimitrios Moussakopoulos, died in mid-1947, after which the monastery ceased to be inhabited.
The monastery’s former ecclesiastical jurisdiction was linked with the Metropolitanate of Ioannina and, through it, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople rather than the Church of Greece. Its patronal feast is celebrated on 26 July, the name day of Saint Paraskevi. In 1964, a government decree designated the monastery a protected historic monument, and it is included within the UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape of Zagori.
Remains
The monastery survives as a stone complex on a rugged rock above Vikos Gorge. Its main elements are the small central church, or katholikon, the monastic cells, ancillary buildings, a gated entrance with an adjoining chamber, and the separate Lonza building. A terrace gives a relatively safe elevated view over the gorge, while paths beside the cliff are extremely narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time.
Church and painted decoration
The katholikon
The katholikon, the principal church of an Orthodox monastery, is a small single-nave basilica with a wooden roof. Its small windows admit light from above. The building is identified as the oldest preserved chapel in Zagori, and Saint Paraskevi appears in a niche on the church’s front. An icon of the saint inside the church, attributed to northern Greek art, dates from the seventeenth century.
Frescoes and donor portraits
Fifteenth-century frescoes survive on the church’s west, north, and east walls. They are especially important because relatively few paintings from this period remain in Epirus. The north wall includes a donor portrait of Michael Therianos, his wife, and their children in contemporary dress. Their clothing features richly embroidered fabrics, broad braids, and fringes, while Therianos’s daughter Theodora wears a white head kerchief wrapped around her neck.
Frescoes on the south wall are associated with an inscription dated to around 1689. They show saints with clearly recognizable faces and scenes representing the twelve seasons. The wall appears to have been rebuilt after part of the church was destroyed, giving the painted decoration a physical record of the building’s later alteration.
Fortified buildings and refuge spaces
Entrance and Lonza
The entrance has a gate beside an adjoining chamber, giving the complex a fortified character and leading to its description as a monastery-fortress. The site also contains a well and the Lonza, a barrack-like structure with a balcony built directly above the gorge. The nuns used the Lonza as a hiding place during danger, and a trapdoor leading toward the gorge could provide an emergency exit in the event of fire.
Caves and cliff paths
Two narrow paths cut into the rock connect the monastery with nearby caves used by ascetics for retreat and protection. The caves lie on the rugged slopes around the complex and were also sought by hermits and persecuted Christians for refuge during the Ottoman period. Small dwellings were built in the surrounding area around 1816.
Devotional remains
Worshippers attach metal votive tablets to the icon of Saint Paraskevi as offerings connected with requests for divine assistance or thanks for help received. Hand-painted icons associated with the monastery are produced by Skytali, an artists’ group formed by art students from Ioannina.
