Monastery of Saint Ephraim: A Women’s Monastery in Greece
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Byzantine
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page6 sections
History
The Monastery of Saint Ephraim is a women’s monastery in Greece, located in Agiou Efrem near Nea Makri in Attica. Also known as the Annunciation of the Theotokos Monastery, it stands in the Xilokeriza area east of Mount Pentelicus and belongs to the Metropolis of Kifisia, Amaroussion, Oropos and Marathon.
The Medieval Monastery
An earlier men’s monastery occupied the site from the tenth century. At that time, Mount Amomon, whose name was understood as “the mountain of the pure,” contained numerous hermitages. The monastery was operating by 1576, when it was known by the uncanonical name of Saint Paraskevi.
A patriarchal document dated May 10, 1611, records the institution as the Nativity of the Theotokos and designates it as a Patriarchal Stavropigian Monastery. This status placed it directly under the authority of the patriarch rather than under the ordinary jurisdiction of a local bishop. The manuscript is preserved in the National Library of Athens.
Reconstruction and the Relics of Saint Ephraim
In 1945, Nun Makaria Desypri began reconstructing the monastery among the ruins of the earlier Annunciation monastery. She first established a monastic cell there and then cleared the church for rebuilding. Tradition attributes this decision to divine enlightenment.
On January 3, 1950, Nun Makaria discovered the relics of Saint Ephraim, a Christian saint venerated at the monastery as a martyr. The relics were found 524 years after his death, and the discovery is commemorated each year on January 3. A ministerial decision in 1975 restored the name Annunciation of the Theotokos, described as the monastery’s original name. Its revelation to Nun Makaria is associated with a miraculous occurrence.
The monastery’s principal feast days are January 3, marking the discovery of Saint Ephraim’s relics; March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation; and May 5, commemorating Saint Ephraim’s final martyrdom. The abbess is Nun Theodosia.
Remains
Monastery and Church
The present monastery occupies the Mount Amomon area of Attica, in Xilokeriza east of Mount Pentelicus. Its buildings were established among the ruins of the earlier monastery of the Annunciation. Nun Makaria’s first cell and the church she cleared in 1945 formed the starting point for the reconstruction of the present monastic complex.
Artwork and Courtyard Tomb
Much of the monastery’s artwork consists of donated works and votive offerings. To the left of the church entrance is an unfinished portable icon of Saint Ephraim made by Fotis Kontoglou, a twentieth-century Greek painter, writer, and iconographer associated with the revival of Byzantine artistic traditions. Kontoglou’s tomb is located in the monastery courtyard.
