Monastery of Agios Ierotheos (Panagia Kiparissiotissa)

At the location Derveni, on the northeastern slope of the Geraneia mountain, at a quiet location approximately 8 kilometers from the city of Megara, is the monastery dedicated to Panagia Kiparissiotissa and to Agios Ierotheos, first bishop of Athens. The name Kiparissiotissa came from the tradition that in the 15th century the monks of the monastery saved themselves from a pirate attach by climbing on a cypress tree (kiparissi in Greek).

The monastery dates from the 12th century and possibly it was erected over the ruins of a church from the early Christian years. It was dissolved in 1833, following an edict by king Otto’s regency. Its monks were incorporated with the monastery of Faneromeni in Salamina and the complex remained desolate. It was re-established as a women’s monastery in 1930, and during the war years and the German occupation of Greece it provided many services, among others assisting twenty British soldiers who were hiding in a nearby cave.

The monastery complex consists of Byzantine and later buildings, which were constructed after 1930 to satisfy the needs of the monks. The catholicon, dating from the 12th century, is small, belongs to the type of the compressed cross-in-square and has rare wall paintings from the 12th century, mainly of folklore style, but also remarkable later ones from the 16th or the 17th century. Its steeple is joined with the pronaos and is supported by columns that belong to an ancient or Old Christian edifice. On the north side of the church a chapel has been added, while on its southern part is the tomb of Agios Ierotheos and next to it the vaulted monument that the monks erected in memory of their deliverance from the pirates. From the Byzantine Period dates the “fotanamma”, a vaulted heated area where the monks gathered, opposite the catholicon, which today is used as a refectory. There are also two wings of cells and auxiliary areas, with arched roofs, small windows and low doors. The monastery celebrates twice a year, on August 15th and on October 4th.