At the picturesque coastal settlement of Makri there is one of the most beautiful and oldest churches of the wider area of Evros, which today is the parish church and is dedicated to Agia Anastasia Framakolytria (Saint Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions).
As its founding inscription informs us, it was initially founded in 1100, but in the same location there must have been an ancient temple, from which scattered architectural members survive on the southern side of the building. With its present day form the church was founded in 1833, with the financial contribution of the patriarch of Constantinople Neophytus III, of the notable Hatzimanolakis, and the tobacco cultivators of the area, as it is mentioned in the inscription. It is noteworthy, that even though it was repeatedly by fire, it was reconstructed and it functioned continuously during the Turkish occupation, without being converted into a Muslim mosque, like the nearby church of Agios Dimitrios, which has collapsed and its ruins are visible north of the church of Agia Anastasia.
The church belongs to the type of three-aisled, wooden-roofed basilica and is not particularly large in dimensions. Its walls are built with stones and on the side of its entrance a roofed portico has been created. At its interior dominant is the wooden-carved screen, which dates from the 17th century. The icons that decorated it are remarkable works of art, which cover the period from the 17th to the 19th century. More of them have been transferred to the Ecclesiastical Museum of Alexandroupolis and have been replaced by modern icons, of Byzantine style. The church has a large number of relics, a baptistery of 1820, as well as an icon of the Virgin Mary that was retrieved by fishermen from the port of Makri in the beginning of the 20th century. Furthermore, in a special area of its interior they keep parts from the relics of the Holy Five New Martyrs of Samothrace, which martyred in Makri in 1835, together with the hooks where they hung them.
The church celebrates on the 22th of December.
Informations
Contact phone:
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Date:
1833
Season:
Modern
Celebrates:
22 December
Holy Metropolis: Alexandroupolis
Address:
Makri 68100
Access:
Car
Parking:
Free parking space
