Monastery of St Patapios (Loutraki, Greece)
The Monastery of St. Patapios (also Agios Patapios), is a monastery for women located 14km (22ft) from Loutraki, Greece at an elevation of some 700m (1120ft) on the Geraneai mountains. The monastery is in the jurisdiction of the Church of Greece.
History
The monastery, which is dedicated to St. Patapius of Thebes, was founded in 1952 by Prokopios, Metropolitan Bishop of Korinth, around the cave where his relics were found in 1904. The saints relics had been placed beneath tiles, to protect the body from the damp, and it exuded a sweet odor. On the relic there was a scroll giving Patapius's name, with a wooden cross and some Byzantine coins. The cave measured 8 x 4.5m (13 x 7.1ft) and today has a sanctuary and sacristy hewn out of the rock. It can be found northwest of the katholikon of the convent and the holy relic is kept in a special wooden structure at the back of the cave. Inside the cave there are also Byzantine wall paintings from the 13th century, with three prominent figures of St. Patapius, St. Ipomoni (Emperess Helen Draganas) and St. Nicon.
After the founding of the monastery, Sister Patapia was nominated as Mother Superior, with Father Nectarios as its spiritual leader. Today, there are some forty nuns living in the cells of the foundation and the current Mother Superior is Mother Isidora.
The monastery church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and contains at its center a Panagia for veneration. The church also holds the relic skull of St. Ipomoni ( also St. Patience or Agia Hipomoni), who was the mother of the last emperor of Constantinople, Constantine XI Palaiologos.
Life of St. Patapius
- See main article: Patapius of Thebes
This saint was from the Thebaid of Egypt and struggled many years in the wilderness (7th century). He departed for Constantinople, and, having performed many miracles and healings, he reposed in peace at a a great age.
