Monastery of Osios Patapios of Thebes – Loutraki Greece
Saint Patapios of Thebe – Osios Patapios
Saint Patapios of Thebes – Feast Day 8 December
Saint Patapios, was born in 380 AD, in the Egyptian city of Thebes, Egypt, of wealthy, Christian parents.
Through his studies, which included science, mathematics, philosophy and rhetoric, Patapios came to realize how fleeting life is and inspired by Clement, Origen and Athanasius, Christian theologians of Alexandria, he chose the ascetic life.
Once he finished his studies he returned home to Thebes, only to discover his father had died, this, once again got him thinking about how short life is and he again left Thebes to become a hermit, living in the desert.
After a few years, performing good deeds and roaming the desert, Patapios decided this was not the life for him and in 428 AD, headed for Constantinople.
On his journey, his ship made a stop in Corinth, in the Peloponnese, Greece, where he and a monk, Sechnuti, disembarked, decided they liked the place and stayed.
They lived as monks, in a cave on the Gerania Mountains, Loutraki, for seven years.
Gerania Mountains above Loutraki, Corinthia, home to the cave now housing the relics of of Saint Patapios and the Osios Patapios Monastery.
In 435 AD, Patapios and Sechnuti, resumed their journey to Constantinople, where, in the Monastery of Blachernae, Patapios, lived the life of a simple monk and established the Monastery of the Egyptians, where he eventually died at the age of eighty three.
Patapios was buried in the Monastery of the Egyptians, however, after its destruction in 536 AD, his body was transferred to the Monastery of Saint John at Petrion, Constantinople.
One thousand years later, when the Turks captured Constantinople, his relics were taken back to his Cave on the Gerania Mountains, Corinthia, where his body was hidden and a tiny chapel, was built in his honour.
Discovery of the Relics of Saint Patapios – Loutraki – 1904
The discovery of the remains of Osios Patapios. Loutraki 1904
Fast forward to1904, a local priest from Loutraki, Father Constantine Sossanis, an extremely tall man, who regularly performed services in the tiny chapel, in the cave high on the Gerania Mountain, was tired of hobbling around, bent nearly double, in the low roofed cave and called in some workmen to solve his problem.
According to local legend, the night before work was about to begin in the cave, Father Constantine had a dream, in which a monk appeared before him and said:
“Take care when you break the wall because I am on the other side. I am Saint Patapios of Egypt.“
The very next day, the body of Patapios, which had been placed under tiles and leaves to protect the body from the damp, was found.
A scroll, bearing the name Patapios, a large wooden cross and some Byzantine coins, were discovered along with the remains.
In the cave they also found also the skull of Helena Dragaš, known as Saint Ipomoni, who, before becoming a nun, had been Empress Helen, mother of the last Eastern Roman Emperor, Constaintine Palaiologos.
Holy Skull of Ipomoni (Patience) Osios Patapios Loutraki
Saint Ipomoni, noted for her pious works, was buried in the Monastery of the Pantocratoras in Constantinople, where her husband and three of their children (of which two were monks as well) were also buried.
The Feast Day of Saint Ipomoni is celebrated on May 29; the day that Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.
Byzantine Icon of Saint Hipomoni – Saint Patience. Found in the cave of Saint Patapios in Loutraki – Greece, unknown artist, c.15th century. Photo from the monastery of saint Patapios.
The Cave and Chapel of the Virgin Mary Of Egypt:
Monastery of Osios Patapios – Loutraki
Chapel of the Virgin Mary Of Egypt – Osios Patapios Monastery, Loutraki Corinthia
Today, the body of Saint Patapios, is housed in a sanctuary, carved out of the rock of the Gerania Mountains, located about fourteen kilometres from Loutraki, at an altitude of about seven hundred metres above the Gulf of Corinth.
In the small courtyard, of the Monastery of Osios Patapios, a women’s monastery, home to forty nuns, established in 1952, in the farthest corner, next to the Chapel of the Virgin Mary Of Egypt, named after the chapel established by Saint Patapios in Egypt, also the place where he died, is the cave containing the relics of Saint Patapios.
Relic of Saint Patapios of Thebes. Loutraki
Hand of Osios Patapios
Loutraki, Greece
Decorating the wall of the cave which houses the relics of Saint Patapios, is a wonderful Byzantine wall painting, dating back to the thirteenth century, depicting Saint Patapios, Saint Ipomoni and Saint Nikon Osios.
13 century Byzantine wall painting, Saint Patapios, Saint Ipomoni, Saint Nikon, cave of Osios Patapios Monastery, Loutraki
Icon of Saint Patapios found in the cave of Osios Patapios Monastery, in Loutraki, Greece.
Outside the cave of Osios Patapios, is shrine, where visitors take, as an amulet, a piece of cotton wool soaked with holy oil from the burning lamps and holy water from a source next to the cave.
Shrine outside the cave of Osios Patapios, Loutraki.
Saint Patapios is the patron Saint of dropsy!
Now I never knew that dropsy had a patron saint!
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