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Koimisis Theotokos Convent

COUNTY: Arcadia MUNICIPALITY: Megalopolis

Clear
19.5ºC

Type

Monastery

TL;DR

A historical convent located in a green landscape offers moments of inner peace.

This convent was built in the years of Komnenoi, the byzantine emperors, in honor of Koimisis Theotokos (the Dormition of the Mother of God) and it used to be a monastery, hence the 10-meter tower with loopholes. Located near Leontari village, on the Leontari-Sparti road, the convent is only 6km from Leontari and 4km from Falaisia village.

In 1770, during the Orlov Revolt, the Turks pillaged the monastery, killed the monks and destroyed the holy paintings. But, when Ibrahim Pascha advanced in Peloponnese, the monks fiercely defended the monastery by sacrificing their lives. In 1831, the portable icon of Panagia Vrefokratousa (Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus), 100X75cm, was put on the charred iconostasis of the catholicon. After the liberation of Greece from the Turks, the monastery offered its immovable and movable property to the newly-founded Greek state. In 1935 it became a convent and in 1984 it was restored after the initiative of the energetic nuns who saw to the restoration of the old buildings.

The book binding workshop of the convent issued the “Filokalia ton Ieron Niptikon”, a collection of mystic texts written by hermits in 1782 and translated in Modern Greek. At the entrance of the convent there is the church of Agios Alexios. The cemetery church is devoted to the New Martyrs Raphael, Nikolaos and Eirini. The traditional water mill and the church of Agios Prodromos, celebrated on June 24, belong to the convent, which celebrates on August 23.