With these words written ïn a Sigillion (1) in 1583 the Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II "the Great" attempted to express the awe of the spirit and the aesthetic magnificence with the sight of Hozoviotissa provoke in the thunderstruck visitor. But the unsuspecting visitor can not begin to imagine the extent of the islanders' undying love for this great monument hanging in space, hooked in the fissures of Mount Prophet Elijah for one thousand years, and the way they protect it with all their natural and super natural powers!

The stone-paved steps that climb on to the Monastery are literally carved out of the rock and have a panoramic view of the open sea.
In the left the enormous sharp rocks at many points of the walk on "shut out" the sky above our heads, leaning threateningly into space.
Approaching the "Monastery if the Steps" we gradually experience the relationship of sharing and harmony between the building and the landscape. From an architectural point of view, the Monastery is a wonderful product of the adoption of style and shape from the surrounding natural environment.
The only difference (between natural and man-made ) seems to be the use of whitewash, a gleaming whiteness in the dazzle of the Cycladic sun. A characteristic whiteness, it declares that there is human presence in the area and that this is a special place of worship.

With these thoughts we pass through the low entrance-door (with the post-Byzantine sculptured marble door-frame ) which is "crowned" with an older Venetian arch of the 15th century.
Here now are the monks, affable and very willing to offer us hospitality and a tour of the holy place. It is unbelievable that, in such a building, only 5 yards wide and with 8 floors, in most parts carved out of the rock. it is possible for there to have existed for centuries, a complete monastic settlement: from the many cells to the cistem of rain-water, the ovens, the kitchens, the olive and wine presses, the larders for oil and wine... and, of course, the dining-room, small reception-hall and the priceless ecclesiastical Treasury! Many narrow staircases, one following the other, often an extension of the natural rock, create a labyrinthine system of communication from one floor to the next, from theolder Byzantine parts of the Monastery to the more recent parts with Venetian or post-Byzantine evidence (the Byzantine arches altemate with pointed arches or renovation lintels with inscriptions 1632, 1668 ...). next page »

| All text by Lila Maragou© |

More pictures from Monastery here