Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at Mikrokastro - Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at Mikrokastro

Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Mikrokastro is located outside the village of Mikrokastro, in the municipality of Voio, in Western Macedonia. It has been a nunnery since 1993. The nuns are engaged in agricultural cultivation and gardening. On the 15th of August, on the feast of the Virgin Mary, horsemen from Siatista come with decorated horses to celebrate the Virgin of Mikrokastri. Its wonderful. It is worth dedicating this day with one visit.

Exceptional unique monastery located on a bypass of the Egnatia road towards Kastoria. Very well organized, very well organized and well organized vegetable garden at the back of the monastery. The hospitality of the brothers, unparalleled and devoted. Do not forget to buy ecclesiastical items, liqueurs , sun-dried Siatista, etc. all made by the sisters.

A beautiful place of pilgrimage is the Holy Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Mikrokastro with its Holy and miraculous image, a place for spiritual benefit, with excellent and exemplary hospitality !!

Very beautiful monastery, worth a visit.

The Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Mikrokastro is located outside the village of Mikrokastro, in the municipality of Voio, in Western Macedonia. It has been a nunnery since 1993. It is not known exactly when the temple was built and when the monastery was founded. According to a testimony shortly before World War II, there was a wall in the temple dating back to 1603, which is no longer preserved. It is most probable that this chronology is connected with a temple that existed earlier in the place, in which the current katholikon of the Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Mikrokastro was later built. The morphological data of the present temple show that it may not be so old. In addition, it was painted in 1797, so if it had been built in the early 17th century, it would have remained without hagiography for a very long time, while there is no evidence that the painting of 1797 was done on an older one. [1] According to other testimonies, the monastery was founded in 1753, a date that is written on one of the two marble slabs, at the main entrance of the katholikon, which refer to the renovations of the church. However, it is more probable that the church was built in 1793, a date which according to testimony was written on the outside of the church in the past and which is also not preserved. [2] The time of the foundation of the monastery is not known either. However, the current katholikon seems to have been originally a pilgrimage church and later the monastery was created. In particular, in 1797, the metropolitan of Sisani and Siatist Neophytos had compiled a list of the villages under his jurisdiction, which also mentions the monasteries that had been founded and belonged at that time to the specific metropolis. About Mikrokastro, Neophytos reports: “Village Tzirousinon [old name of Mikrokastro]. And a church of the Most Holy Theotokos, not a monastery ". [3] Also in the history inscription of the church there is no reference to monks as it would happen if it was a monastery catholic, but to clergy. [4] The fact that it was a pilgrimage temple that was later converted into a monastery also results from the lack of side dances, the austere and the domes, which are characteristic of the catholics of the monasteries of that period. [5] A reference to a monastery in Mikrokastro is first made in a document dated 18 May 1824. [6] Therefore the foundation of the monastery took place between 1797 and 1824. The katholikon of the Monastery is rectangular, it has a length of 23.65 m. and 12.18 m wide and is half buried in the ground. It has low height, narrow and low doors and small windows, which are the characteristics of the temples of the Ottoman Empire. The main church is divided into three aisles and the central aisle is distinguished from the other two by two rows of three columns and two pillars. In the middle of the roof there is a hexagonal dome, which is not a structural element of the temple, but has been built to give it light. On the south side of the katholikon, where its main entrance is located, there is a loggia, a feature of the ecclesiastical architecture of the period in Macedonia. The bell tower was built in 1923.

Apart from the undeniable sanctity of the place and the peace and tranquility that the land offers you, the Holy Monastery is very careful by the Nuns