The Cathedral in Athens served as a blueprint for the construction of Agios Vlassios Cathedral in Xylokastro which was built in 1908 where once stood an older church. This byzantine cathedral has an octagonal pendentive dome. The outer narthex is cave-shaped and it is actually the extension of the semi-circular inner narthex. The marble iconostasis and its painting took several years to be completed; it had started before the war to be finished in 1960. Agios Vlassios, the bishop of Sevasteia, is the patron saint of Xylokastro and is celebrated on February 11.