The monastery of Agios Stephanos
Access to the Monastery of Agios Stephanos (St.
Stephen) is gained via
a
small
stone
bridge leading from the modern
road to the main entrance.
Although the first
evidence
of
habitation
on the rock
dates back
to the 12th
century, the
monastery
was
founded
in
the 14th
century
by Anthony, a member of
the Catacuzenus
dynasty.
In the mid 16th
century
the catholicon
was restored
by
Philotheos,
the monk who is regarded
as
the
second
founder.
In 1545 Patriarch Jeremiah I declared Agios Stephanos independent
and stavropegic , privileges which it retained for the following 200 years. The new catholicon dedicated to Agios
Charalambos was
built in the late 18th century.
Apart from the old and new catholica and a few later
buildings, a number of other structures have been restored
and
preserved: the oblong
refectory,
which is roofed over by two elliptical domes and presently
functions as a sacristy - cum - museum, a small square vaulted kitchen,
stables and cells.
The
old catholicon
is composed of
the lite
and the church proper.
A
tripartite
arched opening in the square lite
leads to a single nave timber-roofed church ending
in a
three-sided
apse to the
east.
The wall paintings in Agios Stephanos were completed
in two phases. The first, which would appear to have been sponsored by Abbot
Metrophanus and Brother Gregory, accounted for the paintings
in
the sanctuary,
the nave
and
the greater
part
of
the lite. These follow the anti-classical tradition of
post-Byzantine art and, based on stylistic features, date to the 1st half of the 17th
century; they
have been attributed to artists from Linotopi
in
Epirus. The paintings covering the west wall in the lite and the lower
zone on the piers of the tribelon leading
to the nave both derive from the
second decoration phase, and were sponsored by Abbot Grigorios.
Built in 1798, the new catholicon is a
cross-in-square triconch
domed church dedicated to Agios Haralambos. The Prothesis and Diakonicon
also have domes, while to the east the church ends in three semicircular apses.
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