ATHENS – In a magical part of Epirus, at the foot of Mount Nemertsika by the Aoos River, is the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin ‘Molyvdoskepasti’- named for the lead plates that – instead of tiles or stone slabs – cover the church roof.

Since 1988, the monastery, which was then re-staffed with the prompting of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos and the blessing of the late Metropolitan Sevastianos, celebrates the Mother of us all, the Virgin Mary every year.

A multitude of the faithful from all over Greece and the Diaspora found themselves in her grace again this year. On August 14 in the evening at the Great Vespers and the vigil and on August 15, the Feast Day of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the monastery from end to end, inside and in the surrounding area, was filled with hundreds of pilgrims, with His Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Dryinoupolis, Pogoniani and Konitsa, sharing his own message with the faithful, for the great feast of Orthodoxy: “The Most Holy Theotokos, as she quietly lived her life, quietly also passed from earth to heaven. And it is wonderful that from the first moment of her transition, the faithful Orthodox people awarded her the due honor, as they conceived life, because she had in her womb the Lord Jesus Christ, Who proclaimed: ‘I am life.’ Not for a moment did the faithful stop taking refuge in the Virgin Mary, especially in the difficult moments of their lives. The Orthodox take refuge in faith in the Virgin Mary to ask for her help. They consider her a real Mother and fervently invoke her prayers and protection. So it is not surprising that Greece, from one end to the other, as well as Cyprus and Northern Epirus which are Greek and Christian places, are scattered with churches and monasteries where holy icons of the Virgin Mary are kept.”

“Together with the rest of Greece, our Metropolis celebrates the Dormition of the Virgin, with the vigil at the Holy Monastery of Molyvdoskepasti, as has been established by Metropolitan Sevastianos since 1968,” he said.

Historically, the monastery was founded by the Byzantine Emperor Konstantinos Pogonatos, as he was returning from his campaign in Sicily (671-672 AD). Almost seven centuries later, the Emperor Andronikos Paleologos renovated it and in 1522 the inhabitants of the Pogoniani area painted its katholikon, the main church building of the monastery. In fact, its foundation and renovation is also mentioned in an inscription of the katholikon.

Unfortunately the monastery remained without monks from 1913 to 1988 as a result of which its property was trampled and the relics were stolen. The almost total destruction came in July 1943 when the Germans bombed the monastery, burning the cells and the altar, while looting its katholikon.

Thus, today, the monastery has renovated cells, two bell towers, a nice garden, its katholikon is of Byzantine style, with a high dome and hagiographies of the 13th and 18th centuries that are very well-preserved over time. On the roof of the katholikon, lead plates were reinstalled and thus rightfully continues to bear the title it had ta