Prousos Monastery

The Prousou Monastery (Greek: ''Μονή Προυσού'') is a monastery of County Evrytania, Greece. It is located 31 km south of Karpenisi and 53 km northeast of Agrinio, 2 km from the homonymous village and is a spiritual and pilgrimage center of the entire region. It is built in a steep, rocky area between the mountains of Helidona, Kaliakouda and the mountain range of Panaitoliko, which is overgrown with fir trees.

The Holy Monastery of Prousou is dedicated to Theotokos and celebrates on August 23 (Apodosis Dormition of Theotokos). In 1748 the Monastery became Stauropegion.

Tradition for the Foundation of the Monastery

The name of the Monastery is due to the miraculous icon of "Panagia Prousiotissa". According to tradition, this icon comes from Bursa in Asia Minor and is believed to be the work of Luke the Evangelist. The icon of the Theotokos was located in a church in Bursa, but fearing that it would be destroyed by order of the iconoclast emperor of Byzantium Theophilus (829–842), it fled to Central Greece.

Tradition links the sanctuary of the icon, the current site of the Monastery, with miracles that occurred during the transfer of the icon there. The young man who carried it, together with one of his servants, decided to establish a monastery at this spot as they found it impossible to move the image from there. They themselves became the first monks, with the names Dionysios and Timotheus.

Revolution of 1821

A few years before the Greek War of Independence, the spiritual Kyrillos Kastanofyllis was sent to the monastery as abbot. He was a member of the Filiki Eteria and the pretext was to correct his alleged spiritual and moral decline. Immediately and based on a plan, he organized and operated the "School of Greek Letters" (1818–1828).{{Cite web, url=https://www.imkarpenisiou.gr/map/sholi-ellinikon-grammaton-1819-1825-ieri-moni-proysoy, title=Σχολή Ελληνικών Γραμμάτων (1819-1825). Ιερή Μονή Προυσού. {{! Προσκυνηματικός Χάρτης Ιεράς Μητροπόλεως Καρπενησίου, website=www.imkarpenisiou.gr, accessdate=2022-01-25, archive-date=2022-01-25, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125172426/https://www.imkarpenisiou.gr/map/sholi-ellinikon-grammaton-1819-1825-ieri-moni-proysoy, url-status=

The Monastery was a center of political guidance of the liberation struggle (there are letters of Mavrokordatos, etc.). He played a crucial role in the entire management of the siege of Missolonghi and also in the rescue of many after the destruction of the "Exodus". It functioned throughout the match as a hospital and a hospital for the wounded.

Karaiskakis had his headquarters in the monastery. In fact, General Karaiskakis donated the silver cover of the icon as a sign of gratitude for the heat, which was bothering him and from which he was cured during his stay in the Monastery. The Vault of the Monastery today has the weapons of Karaiskakis.

A large part of the Monastery was burned by the Germans on August 16, 1944, because it was a support center for the Resistance rebels. Many relics, utensils, manuscripts and books were destroyed, but not the precious icon of the Virgin Mary, which had been placed in a crypt.

After the Civil War, the reconstruction of the Monastery was started again by the abbot Germanos, which continued in the 1970s by the then abbot of the monastery and later abbot of the Holy Monastery of Dochiario of Mount Athos Grigorios.

References

External links

Η Μονή του Προυσού μέσα από φωτογραφικό λεύκωμαsaint.gr

Greek Orthodox monasteries in Greece
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century