Monuments

The Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Saint Anastasia Farmakolytria (the Deliverer of Potions), is located at the 32nd kilometer of the Thessaloniki-Polygyros provincial road. It is built on the southern foothills of Mount Omvrianos, which rises above the plain of Vasilika.

According to tradition, the Monastery was founded at the end of the 9th century by Empress Theofano, first wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise. The first testimonies about the Monastery are found in a document kept in the Xeropotamou Monastery, known as the will of monk Theodosios Skaranos (1270-1274) and in the Codex Parisinus Graecus 1242 (1370-1375), which contains handwritten works of John VI Kantakouzenos. In the year 1522 the monastery was reestablished by priestmonk Theonas, head of a group of monks from Mount Athos. St. Theonas renovated and expanded the monastery and served as abbot until 1531, when he was elected Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. 

A period of great prosperity followed, and prominent intellectuals emerged. Many monks were distinguished as scholars and copyists of manuscripts, thus establishing a rich and extensive library. At the same time, the monastery acquired large property and ample dependencies (metochia) in the Chalkidiki peninsula and in Thessaloniki, as stated in a document of the Ecumenical Patriarch Metrophanes III (1565). According to the same document, the monastery was declared Patriarchal and Stavropegic by Metrophanes. During the 17th and 18th centuries, its new dependencies in Thessaloniki, Wallachia (Romania) and Russia testify to the significant progress of the Monastery, under difficult conditions though, due to exorbitant taxation and confiscation of properties by the Ottoman administration.

In the spring of 1821, the Monastery fervently supported the Greek War of Independence, even lending one of its ships, “Partigos”, to the revolutionaries of Kassandra. In June of the same year, Captain Chapsas and his comrades in arms fell in battle against the Turks at the foot of the mountain, just below the Holy Monastery. The Turks then took action against the Monastery, set the monastery on fire and slaughtered Abbot Makarios, the monks and all laypeople who had sought refuge there. The reconstruction of the monastery began in 1832; however, it burned down again in 1853.

In 1918, as a result of the actions of Metropolitan Irenaeus of Kassandria, the St. Anastasia Ecclesiastical School was founded, which was in operation until 1971. The School attracted students from Chalkidiki and from the rest of Greece. Initially, the teaching premises and the living quarters of students were within the Monastery. In 1929, another building was constructed outside the precincts of the Monastery near the western entrance, which housed the School and was designed by famous architect Xenophon Paionidis from Fourka, Chalkidiki.

According to tradition, the establishment of the Monastery dates back to the 9th century; however, no remnants from this period have been identified.

The Monastery was reestablished by St. Theonas in 1522. The edifices suffered significant damage in the centuries that followed. In 1789, the largest part of the monastery was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt. Reconstruction work of the Monastery began in 1832, after it was set on fire by the Ottomans in 1821. The Katholikon was built in 1834 and later on, the rest of the structures, the cells and the ancillary areas were completed. In 1853, the Monastery was once again destroyed by fire and rebuilt without delay. The buildings that were saved from the fire were the Katholikon, the Refectory, the Bell Tower and edifices from 1789.

The Katholikon of the Monastery is a three-aisled basilica with a dome. A saddleback roof covers the church. The lite is to the west of the church, which essentially constitutes a large inner covered courtyard and the large, spacious refectory with the dome is to the west. The currently filled semi-subterranean level below the Refectory dates back to the 16-17th century.

The kitchen is located in an independent building north of the Refectory.

The bell tower rises above the eastern part of the refectory, topped with a remarkable timber framed structure with a large dome.

The eastern and southern wings of the monastery are three-storeyed in Γ shape. The cells of the monks and the ancillary facilities of the Monastery are located there; the Abbey is located in the eastern wing. A large part of the initial constructions of the 16-17th century were preserved in the south and east wings, which were also restored, taking their present form. The southern wing has a total length of about 90 m. It was gradually developed in 4 phases, starting from the eastern end, the ground level which probably dates back to the years of Theonas. The upper floors were rebuilt several times; in 1789, 1815, 1834 and around 1860. Part of the old stone pavement was revealed in the area in front of the basement entrance. 

In 1991, the excavation revealed the foundation of a wall that forms the continuation of the western wall of the fortified enclosure to the north, in the western courtyard of the monastery, as well as the architectural remains of a magipio (bakery) and a small bathhouse. The bathhouse and its contemporary arched transept to the north can be dated to the 16th or 17th century. These constructions were either part of the hospital that is said to have been founded by Theonas in the western part of the monastery, or of the school-teacher training school that, according to tradition, operated in the region. In 1815, the expansion of the enclosure to the north began with the construction of the outer wall. In the upper part of the wall, the construction of fireplaces and windows of the rooms of the wing that was to be erected later was foreseen. Its construction stopped after the destruction of 1821. 

To the west of the Monastery and outside its precinct lies the building of the Ecclesiastical School.

The current form of the monastic complex occupies approximately 3.500 m2.

The monastery is surrounded by eleven chapels, which define the property of the Monastery. They were built in the 20th century, except for the chapel of St. Cyricus and St. Julitta and the ground floor of the church of the Assumption of the Virgin.

The chapel of Cyricus and Julitta is located on a low hill, to the left of the road leading to the Monastery and 500m before it. Traces of a prehistoric settlement have been identified on the hill. It is a single-nave church. It probably dates back to the years of St. Theonas and it was frescoed at the beginning of the 19th century, between the years 1830-1840, by painters who came from neighboring Galatista. They are of exceptional value, as these are the only surviving set of wall paintings in Chalkidiki from the school of Galatsian painters and among the few surviving examples of post-Byzantine painting in Chalkidiki.

The chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin is located south of the monastery. It is of particular significance for the tradition of the Monastery of St. Anastasia, but also for the modern history of the region. According to tradition, the chapel existed prior to the Monastery. A monastic brotherhood that honored St. Anastasia Farmakolytria lived there. When Empress Theophano, being in exile in Thessaloniki, asked to tour the Royal estates, she noticed a light on the Great Mountain. She visited the brotherhood and, moved by their reverence, asked them to pray to the Saint for her return to Constantinople along with Leo the Wise. When this came true, Theofano fulfilled her oblation by building the majestic monastery in honor of the Saint. Tradition also says that St. Theonas planted the giant cypress tree in the courtyard of the chapel, which exists to this day, and that he himself taught the monks at that very place.

After the battle of Vasilika and the holocaust of the Monastery in 1821, the monks who lived in the metochia returned to bury the slaughtered monks, the abbot and captain Stamos Chapsas with his fighters in the chapel. Later, in 1905, at the foot of the mountain, a battalion of Cretan fighters led by Ioannis Daphotis bravely confronted the Turkish army. Those who fell in battle were buried in the chapel. The ground floor of the two-storey church of the Assumption of the Virgin must be an edifice of the 16th century.

In recent years, in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mount Athos, numerous consolidation, restoration and enhancement projects have been carried out at the Holy Monastery due to serious damage caused to the buildings by fires and earthquakes since its construction. Extensive work has also been carried out to preserve the frescoes, icons, manuscripts and other heirlooms of the Monastery.

Kamenidou Maria