Monasteries of Samos: A video tour (in Greek)

Preface by His Eminence the Metropolitan of Samos, Mr. Eusebius

(The texts and the photos are taken by the website of the Holy Metropolis of Samos)

 Samos Island, peaceful and Evander by nature, offered the most appropriate sites, the most imposing locations, and the most ideal conditions for the organization of monastic life, which developed in the beautiful slopes of its mountains and pine thickets, nearby gurgling springs and idyllic hills.

Samian monasteries, basically Byzantine monuments of great historical and archaeological value, have been built with harmonious architectonic proportions. Their history goes back before 889 AD. In 1566, just four (4) years since the period of the desolation of the island stopped and people begun to return, the first Monastery of Samos was build (the Monastery of Virgin Mary of Vronta). From 1566 onwards also begun the creation of all the monasteries that survived up to the present days and still functions.

Samos’s monasteries decisively influenced the genuine ecclesiastical and religious ideals, the fighting spirit, and the orthodox ethos of the inhabitants, while, at the same time, they became, gradually but steadily, into centers were the art of psalmody was well-cultivated.

Without any exception, all monasteries of Samos were dens of persecuted Greeks, especially during the long and harsh periods of foreign occupation. They also served as bases of operations for the brave Samian fighters who fought the 1821 Greek War of Independence, as well as the liberation movements that followed 1821. During these dark centuries of terror and despair, monasteries kept intact the Christian faith of the people, while, at the same time, managed to preserve the purity of the Greek language.

Monks and nuns kept alive the hope of national restoration and independence, cultivated art and literature, and maintained intact the ancient habits and the noble virtues of our Nation, the ones that, at the end of the day, saved Hellenism from destruction and oblivion (the same priceless services were also offered by other monasteries, in other places around Greece).

Over the centuries, all monasteries of Samos supported the well-being of the people, through donations, the reconstruction, maintenance and function of many schools, the allocation of ecclesiastic agricultural land to the landless, the formation of military units, the building of the international airport of Samos, and the financial support of hospital, the leprosarium, the Malegari Seminary, and many music schools.

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