Artokostas Monastery, Arkadia: A Greek Orthodox Monastic Complex
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page9 sections
History
Artokostas Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastic complex in Greece, whose original foundation dates to the twelfth century and whose present monastery was established nearby in 1617. It is regarded as one of the oldest monastic centers of Kynouria and Tsakonia. The monastery is also known as Orthokostas and Eortakoustis. Proposed explanations for these names connect them with “Escorta” or “Scorta,” names found in Venetian documents and the Chronicle of Morea.
From the old monastery to the 1617 foundation
The reasons for the monks’ move from the old monastery to the new foundation remain unknown. A patriarchal sigil issued by Patriarch Timothy II granted the new monastery stavropegic privileges, a status that placed it directly under patriarchal authority rather than under a local bishop. Ecclesiastically, Artokostas belonged to the Metropolis of Monemvasia and was at different times supervised by the Bishopric of Reontos and Prastos.
The icon and Venetian removal
In 1460, Venetian forces removed the monastery’s revered icon of the Theotokos, Mary in Orthodox Christian tradition. They first transferred it to Nafplio and later took it to Italy, where it became known as La Beata Vergine delle Grazie and remains in the Church of San Samuele in Venice. Tradition attributes the icon to the Evangelist Luke. Engravings indicate that its silver covering was added by John VI Kantakouzenos, the Byzantine emperor and historian who ruled in the mid-fourteenth century.
War, destruction, and religious continuity
Albanians looted and burned the monastery in 1770. During the Greek Revolution of 1821, the monastery fed 50 fighters, while its abbot, Ioasaph, participated in the capture of Tripolitsa and the siege of Nafplio. Ibrahim Pasha, an Egyptian-Ottoman military commander active during the Greek War of Independence, destroyed the monastery in 1826. Despite this devastation, it continued its religious activity and support for the revolutionary struggle.
Modern ecclesiastical and administrative history
Artokostas became a women’s monastery in 1982 and was later converted back into a men’s monastery. Four nuns were counted there in the 2011 census. The monastery is affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church and the Holy Metropolis of Mantineia and Kynouria. Its katholikon, the principal church of an Orthodox monastery, is dedicated to the Theotokos and celebrates the Apodosis of the Dormition on 23 August. The Dormition is the Orthodox observance of Mary’s death, while the Apodosis is its concluding day.
Artokostas was recorded as a separate settlement in 1940 within the former community of Prastos. It now forms part of the Prastos community, together with Prastos and Agios Panteleimonas, in the Municipality of North Kynouria. The monastery also has two metochia, or dependent monastic establishments, at Agios Andreas: the Annunciation of the Theotokos and the Three Hierarchs.
Remains
Set among walnut trees and cypresses, the monastery follows an enclosed square plan. Its buildings are traditionally arranged around a large courtyard, with the katholikon forming the central religious focus of the complex. The monastery is fully renovated today, while surviving features preserve elements from different periods of its history.
The katholikon
The katholikon is a domed cross-in-square church, with a central domed space incorporated into a cross-shaped structural plan. The present building was renovated in 1864 by craftsmen from Leonidio. Its floor is paved with large slate slabs and includes representations of a double-headed eagle and a lion, motifs also found in other monasteries of Kynouria.
Frescoes and iconostasis
Modern frescoes cover the interior walls of the church. A post-Byzantine mural survives in the guesthouse, linking the residential buildings with the monastery’s earlier artistic history. The church also contains a carved wooden iconostasis, the screen separating the sanctuary from the main body of an Orthodox church, decorated with notable seventeenth-century icons.
Library and the former monastery icon
The monastery library preserves important documents and patriarchal sigils from the eighteenth century. The former icon of the Theotokos, now held in Venice as La Beata Vergine delle Grazie, bears engravings associated with the silver covering attributed to John VI Kantakouzenos.
