15 Beautiful Unique Churches of Greece and the Stories behind Them

 

 

Greece is a land of beautiful people, sun, sea, ancient ruins, myths and churches.

 Greeks are passionate about their religion, official figures state there are 9,792 churches and monasteries scattered throughout the country.

Keep in mind though, this figure does not take into account hundreds of privately owned small churches and chapels, often hidden away in caves, gorges and other out of the way places, many being on the Greek islands, where they are mostly dedicated to Saint Nicholas, patron saint of sailors and fishermen.

 Tinos alone is said to have has more than 1,000 small churches.

Most churches are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Saint Demetrios, Saint Nicholas, Saints Constantine and Helen and the Holy Trinity.

Below I have listed fifteen of the most unique and unusual churches to be found in Greece, from churches in caves and in trees, to a church with seemingly rootless trees growing from its roof.

My personal favourite is Agia Fotini of Mantineia; a controversial building with a hodgepodge of architectural styles and reputedly designed by a mad man!

 

1.  The unique Church of Agia Fotini:

Mantineia, Arcadia, Peloponnese

 

 

The unique Church of Agia Fotini, Mantineia , Arcadia, Peloponnese.

Constantine Papatheodorou, born 1937, Greece’s answer to Gaudi, an artist and an architect, who studied in Vienna and Berlin, was the man behind one of the most unusual and controversial churches of Greece.

The construction of the church, opposite the archaeological site of Mantinea in Arcadia, Peloponnese, began in 1970; in 1973, the exterior was completed and in 1975, the interior was finished.

 

 

Passionate about his project, Papatheodorou, a ‘hands on’ architect, left his work and home in Athens to live in a tent at the site for six months so as to help bring his dream to life.

The murals and icons painted by Papatheodorou himself, originally boasted modern figures with faces of today, wearing jeans and Tee shirts, these daring icons and murals have since been blotted out.

 

 

The church had no electricity; Papatheodorou had designed the church so that different parts of the church were ablaze with light at different times of the day, in honour of Saint Fotini, whose name means to light or enlighten.

Pieces of ancient marble (spolia), retrieved from the area, have been set haphazardly into the walls.

 

 

Inside the church are mosaics depicting, Perseus, Ariadne and Medusa and in the grounds of the church, is the Heroes Garden, in memory of the people of Mantinia, who fought for their country during the Greek War of Independence (1821 – 1830).

Of interest is Jacob’s Well, which symbolizes the meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman who gave Jesus water, who just happened to be, Saint Fotini.

 

 

When asked what style was the architecture of the church, Papatheodorou replied – ‘none’.

The Orthodox Church found Agia Fotini to be ungodly, pagan and blasphemous and it was not until the late 90s that Agia Fotini was recognized as an Orthodox church, on the condition that the murals and icons, painted by Papatheodorou, were obliterated and electricity installed.

The Bishop of Tripolis, to this day, refuses to perform a service in the church.

 

 2. The Church of Agia Theodora of Vasta:

Arcadia, Peloponnese

 

 

Known as ‘The Miracle Church’, Agia Theodora of Vasta, in the Arcadia region of The Peloponnese, is a small Byzantine church which incredibly has seventeen holly and maple trees, most of which are over thirty meters tall, growing from its roof!

Only one thin root, about the thickness of an arm, is visible at the entrance to the church.

Once inside the church no roots at all are visible.

The local legend goes like this; version one:

Coming from a family of only girls, Theodora, to save her father from having to join the army, disguised herself as a boy, and joined up.

 

 

Not long after joining the army, a local girl, believing Theodora to be a boy, fell in love with her and when Theodora, for obvious reasons, rejected her, the girl, out of revenge, claimed she was pregnant by Theodora and demanded they be married.

For reasons known only to Theodora she did not reveal her secret which could have saved her and refused to marry and was consequently put to death.

 

 

Version two is more or less the same only this time Theodora, again disguised as a boy, joined a monastery as a monk, why she did not save herself trouble and join a nun’s monastery is not known.

Anyway, a nun from a nearby monastery fell in love with the monk Theodora, the ending is the same.

Before her execution, Theodora prayed;

“Let my body become a church, my blood a river, and my hair the trees.”

 

 

On the very spot where Theodora was executed, a spring gushed forth and grew to become a river which still exists today as the river which flows beneath the tiny church.

 

 3. The Miraculous church of Panagia Plataniotissa:

 Kalavryta, Peloponnese

 

 

About thirty kilometres away from  Kalavryta, at the village of Plataniotissa, is one of the most unique churches of Greece: Panagia Plataniotissa – Holy Virgin of the Plane Tree, hidden away inside the hollow of a large plane tree.

Three plane trees had grown so close together that over time they merged into one.

The middle tree (with a base of about sixteen metres and with a height of twenty five metres) and the two adjoining trees are considered by the faithful, to represent the Holy Trinity, another four plane trees which surround them are said to symbolise the four Gospels.

 

 

The date the church was actually founded is not known but its history is connected to the Monastery of Megalou Spilaiou (Great Cave) and the icon of Panagia Megalospilaiotissa – The Virgin Mary of the Great Cave.

Inside the natural cavity of the Plane tree is the image of the icon of The Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus; which is the identical reverse to the one at the Monastery of Megalou Spilaiou – the Great Cave Monastery.

The Great Cave Monastery, on the slope of mount Chelmos, eleven kilometres away from Kalavryta is one of the oldest monasteries of Greece founded in 362 by the brother monks Symeon and Theodoros of Thessaloniki.

 

 

It is said that the two monks, Symeon and Theodoros, found the icon, whist resting at this spot and decided to hide the icon in the hollow of a plane tree.

The following morning, the monks saw, that where they had left the icon, there was now an imprint of the icon, bathed in light, in the hollow of the tree.

This phenomenon is preserved to this day inside a small church of around 8 metres long and about 3 metres wide, which can hold around twenty people.

 

 

 

Many miracles are said to have been performed here by The Virgin Mary.

 

4. The Roofless Church of Panagia Kakaviotissa:

 the island of Lemnos

 

 

Panagia Kakaviotissa,  a small church, the only roofless church in the world, built in a cave, is located near Evgati, a village about 4km from Myrina, on the island of Lemnos, which, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, was used as a retreat for monastic ascetics.

In 1305 the church was given to the monastery of the Great Lavra and it was here that the monks from the holy monastery of Agios Efstratios, seeking refuge from the Turks, settled in the tiny church, built in an inaccessible cave, at the top of the mountain amongst steep cliffs.

 

 

Under a rocky outcrop, the monks set about expanding and renovating the tiny church, named Kakaviotissa, after the Mountain Kakavos on which it is built.

One by one, as time passed, the monks died.

 Local legend has it that after the last monk, not able to face being alone there, decided to leave Lemnos for Mount Athos, he gave the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos Panagia Kakaviotissa or the ‘unfading flower’, to a local shepherd, instructing him to bring the icon to the church every year, on Tuesday of the Bright Week (The week after Easter).

 

 

Centuries passed but  no one ever again settled  on the top of Mount Kakavos.

However, every year, on the first Tuesday after Easter, the faithful gather there, both local residents and pilgrims from all over the world and a service is performed before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos Panagia Kakaviotissa.

 

 5. The Hermit monks of Karoulia Mount Athos (Agion Oros):

The Holy Mountain, Northeastern Greece

 

 

Karoulia is the remotest area of Mount Athos (Agios Oros), located on the third peninsula of Halkidiki, Greece.

It is the oldest monastic community in the world, known for its nearly 1,800-year continuous Christian presence and monastic traditions dating back to at least the 9th century.

Today there are twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries on Mount Athos where over two thousand monks live an ascetic life, isolated from the rest of the world.

 

 

Women are not allowed within 500 metres of the shore and even female animals are prohibited, as it’s believed the presence of women will distract the monks, tempting them away from celibacy and lead them to sin.

Karoulia is home to hermits who belong to the Holy Monastery of Great Lavra but live in 16 small huts on the vertical huge rocks rising from the sea.

Access to Karoulia is difficult; climbing skills are often required!

 

 

The hermits live on very little food and drink rainwater collected in rock cavities and they leave baskets hanging from their huts to the sea, into which passing monks and fishermen place supplies, usually dried bread and olives.

 

 

The area takes its name from the pulley – karouli in Greek, which the hermits use to pull up their baskets.

 

 

Most of the hermit’s time is taken up by prayer.

Services take place in the monasteries and can last for up to six hours and mostly take place at night, with one of the services starting at 2am and finishing at 6am, as the monks believe prayer is easier when the monastery is at its quietest.

The hermits choose this life of isolation and simplicity to feel closer to God and far away from things which may distract them from their prayers.

 

 

They support themselves by painting holy icons and making simple handicrafts which they exchange for supplies.

 

 6. The Church at Daveli’s Cave:

Mount Penteli, Athens

 

 

A cave discovered in the fifth century BC, on Mount Penteli, named Daveli after a thief (His real name was Christos Natsios) who used it as a hideout and a place to stash his ill-gotten gains, is one of the most mysterious places in Athens.

Daveli’s Cave, once used as a marble quarry for the Acropolis, is said to have been used as a place of worship for the followers of the satyr Pan and his nymphs

 

 

In the middle Ages Christian hermits built a church at the entrance to the cave thought to date back to early Byzantine times (150-527 AD.

One half is dedicated to St.Spyridonand the other to St. Nicolas and was used by twelfth-century Christian hermits; thought to be Gnostics.

The Northern Chapel, largely used for burials, had an original decoration of St. Nicholas which indicates the chapel was dedicated to him.

 

 

The best preserved decoration of he Northern Chapel is in the dome which shows the Pantocrator, surrounded by the Virgin, the archangels Michael and Gabriel , eight prophets and  the evangelists; Matthew and Luke.

 

 

On the floor of the church there are two hatches leading to two underground crypts, one was used as an ossuary, while the second (smaller one) was probably the tomb of a priest or a monk.

 

 

Strange goings on occurred in 1977 when construction began at the cave, but what was being built and who was doing the building remains a mystery.

Was it the Greek government?

It’s rumoured that the construction work in and around Daveli’s Cave, may have been storage for nuclear weapons, or a site for radar or a communications base.

The site is said to be used today by Satanists and occultists.

Actually, since ancient times, the area has been associated with paranormal activity, such as water running uphill instead of down, electronics going crazy and apparitions of a cat-like creature walking on two legs are also said to have been spotted.

 

7. Tsambika Monastery:

 the island of Rhodes

 

 

The beautiful Byzantine monastery of Tsambika, atop a hill known as Tsambika Mountain, sits 300 meters above sea level, offering breathtaking views of the villages of Kolimbia, Archangelos and Tsambika Beach.

Tradition has it that, once upon a time, the icon of The Virgin Mary of Tsambika, miraculously made its way from a monastery in Cyprus, all the way to Mount Tambika, then known as Zambika, where it was found, by a group of shepherds, who on investigating the source of a mysterious light, were astonished to find the light coming from the Icon of Panagia Tsambika hidden within a cypress tree.

 

 

This event gave the icon its name; Tsambika, which comes from the word Tsamba, which in Rhodes, means Spark.

After many attempts by locals, to place the icon in a nearby church, which each time resulted in the Icon mysteriously finding its way back to the mountain, it was understood that it was the wish of the Virgin Mary, to have a church built right there on the mountain where the icon was first discovered.

 

 

Legend has it a miracle occurred many years ago, when a Pasha, whose wife was not able to give him a child, on hearing the secrets of Tsambika, had his wife pray before the icon and eat the wick of the lamp which was placed in front of it.

The Pasha’s wife became pregnant but the Pasha believed the child was from another man, it was not until the child was born, that he believed a miracle had happened, as the baby was born holding the wick that the mother had eaten.

 

 

Today Tsambika is visited by thousands of women from all over the world, who are unable to naturally conceive.

Many women leave baby dolls before icon of Panagia.

 

 

Women who have prayed before the Icon and later have given birth, name the child Tsambikos if it is a boy and Tsmambika if it is a girl, if they choose a different name, they instead donate a gift to the monastery in honour of Panagia Tsambika.

 

 8. Agia Dynami, the Church of holy Power:

Athens

 

 

Agia Dynami is located at the corner of Mitropoleos Street and Pentelis Street, Athens.

It is a tiny, Byzantine Church; an inscription discovered there, shows that it may have been dedicated to Heracles.

 

 

During redevelopment of the city of Athens during the 1950s, the Greek Orthodox Church refused to give up the land to the Greek government, so, what could they do?

Ever resourceful, and ones never to give up, the Greeks built around the church!

 

9. Agios Ioannis at Kolona  (St John around the Column):

Psirri, Athens

 

 

Tucked away in the bustling streets and alleyways of Psirri, in downtown Athens, is a tiny, 12th century, Byzantine church, built on the foundations of a former 9th century church.

The peculiar thing about this Byzantine church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is the fact it was built around an ancient, 5th century BC, Corinthian column, which is thought to have survived from a sanctuary dedicated to Asclepios, the Greek god of medicine and healing, 2,500 years ago.

 

 

Excavations carried out in 1917 revealed a mosaic floor and sculpture dating to the 5th century.

 Later excavations unearthed six ancient wells.

Below the church’s foundation runs the ancient river of Eridanos, which, after heavy rain, can be heard flowing beneath the church.

Of the many icons adorning the walls of the church, St. John the Baptist, is the predominant one.

 

 

Today the church is used as a chapel for the nearby church of Saint Dimitri and holds services once a month and on special occasions.

It also commemorates the martyring by beheading of St. John the Baptist annually on August 29th.

 

 

Agios Ioannis at Kolona, Athens can be found at 70, Evripidou St, Psirri, Athens.

 

 10. The Church of Agia Sophia (Saint Sophia), Saint Sophia’s Cave:

Mylopotamos on the island of Kythira.

 

 

The cave of Agia Sofia of Mylopotamos, 60m above sea level, near the villages Kapsali and Mylopotamos, is one of three caves with the same name in Kythira; the other two are located in Agia Pelagia and Kalamos.

 

 

It’s thought The Cave of Agia Sofia was named after the saint’s body, said to have been discovered there.

Saint Sophia is also depicted on murals found at the cave’s entrance in the 13th century.

 

 

 

The cave, in which there are  impressive stalactites and stalagmites, has an area of about 2000 square metres but visitors can only see a 200m length of it.

 

 

A church, dedicated to Agia Sofia, was built in the cave by locals in 1875.

 

11. Saint Fanourios Church:

Lake Doxa, Feneos, Corinthia, Peloponnese

 

 

Saint Fanourios, originally known as Palaiomonastiro, is the small church of the old monastery of Saint George, now under water, which was founded in the 14th century, on the plain of Feneos.

During the 17th century, owing to its position, the monastery flooded and so the monks left and moved to a three-storey building, one kilometer away, on higher ground, north of the lake.

 

 

The Church of Saint Fanourios is the only part of the monastery of Agios Georgios that remained untouched by the floods of the 17th century.

Today, the church, along with the crumbling remains of the monastery, is located on a small peninsula, in the centre of the artificial lake Doxa, in Feneos, western Corinthia.

 

 

Construction of the lake, completed in the late 1990s, is fed and drained by the river Doxa which empties into the plain of Feneos.

Ancient Greek writer, Herodotus, tells us, that the river Styx arose on the plain of Feneos, causing flooding and was drained by an underground channel dug by Hercules during in one of his twelve labours.

Feneos, which in ancient times, was considered part of Arcadia, lies at the foot of Mount Cyllene; in Greek mythology, the birthplace of the god Hermes.

 

12. The Monastery of Saint Nicholas and the Church of Panagia Pantanassa:

Porto Lagos, Xanthi, Greece

 

 

Built on two small islands, located on the Vistonida Lake, near the small village of Porto Lagos, Xanthi, are the Monastery of Saint Nicholas and the Church of Panagia Pantanassa (Most-Holy Queen of All).

The two islands are connected by a wooden bridge, a second bridge links them to the mainland.

On one island, stands the Monastery of St. Nicholas, part of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi, located on Mount Athos.

 

 

On the second, is the newer Church of Panagia Pantanassa, which houses a copy of the “Miraculous Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pantanassi”, the original is kept in the Vatopedi monastery.

The monastery of Saint Nicholas, known for the miraculous healings performed there by the Virgin Pantanassa, attracts visitors from all over the World.

On the neighboring smaller island, the faithful visit the Church of Panagia Pantanassa, to pray to the icon, asking for help in health matters, especially cancer.

 

13. Church of Saint Isidore:

Sykiada, Chios

 

 

Saint Isidore of Chios, a sailor from Alexandria, Egypt and an officer in the Roman navy, declared himself a Christian whilst on the Aegean island of Chios.

Refusing to repent he was martyred on the island, in 251, under the orders of the Roman emperor Decius.

In 1125, the relics of Saint Isidore, were taken from Chios to Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice where they are now kept in a small chapel dedicated to the saint.

 

 

Legend has it that at the moment of his death, all the trees on the south side of the island, shed tears for Isidore.

These tears are said to be the origin of the resin obtained from the mastic tree, known as tears of Chios, still collected on the island and used as flavouring for desserts.

 

14. The Byzantine church of Panagia Kapnikarea:

Ermou Street, Athens

 

 

The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea is one of the oldest Greek Orthodox churches in Athens, located in the center of Athens on Ermou Street, at the edge of the Plaka district.

The church was built sometime in the 11th century around 1050, over an ancient Greek temple dedicated to a goddess, possibly Athena or Demeter.

As were most significant churches of Athens at that time, The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, was built in an architectural style known as cross-in-square.

What stands out about these churches are their unique red-tiled, eight-sided domes (Athenian Dome), representing the last traces of Byzantium in Athens.

Many rare icons, including the icon of Platytera or Our Lady of the Sign, which shows the Virgin Mary with Jesus as a child, by one of Greece’s most noted hagiographers; Fotis Kontoglou, are housed in the church.

 

 

The name of the church, Kapnikarea, probably comes from the profession of the founder; a collector of «kapnikon”; tobacco tax.

It was formerly known as Kamoucharea, from the word kamoucha, meaning fabric interwoven with gold, owing to the many textile workshops in the area.

The Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, which is the property of the University of Athens, is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

It celebrates its saint’s name day on 15 August.

 

15. Church of the Panagia (Church of the Virgin):

 Folegandros – Cyclades, Greece

 

 

To reach the Church of the Panagia (Church of the Virgin), be pepared for a tough 15 minute hike!

The church is reached by a zig zag path, starting in the village Square of Chora, which is built on the edge of a 200 metre cliff.

The age of the church is unknow but a marble plaque states it was renovated in 1687 and again in 1821

Legend has it, that in 1790, a gang of Algerian pirates were about to raid the island but were thwarted after the fearful locals prayed for help from the Virgin Mary.

A fierce northern wind suddely blew up, sinking all 18 ships; all the pirates drowned.

Ever after, the locals have considered the Virgin Mary as the protectress of Folegandros.

 

And the list goes on

 

I’m sure I will be coming back to this post, to add more and more beautiful and unique churches of Greece.

Each time I turn on my computer, or visit parts of Greece I haven’t seen before, I come across another wonderful church!