Monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos

At a plateau with an excellent view to the basin of Athens, on the northern foothills of mount Hymettus, is the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos, which must have been more isolated from the city, but today it is located at a small distance from the last houses of the Papagos area.

The date and the conditions of its foundation remain unknown, since the written sources regarding its history are very few. Based on its architecture and the wall paintings of its catholicon, its foundation could be placed in the 16th century, a period in which monasticism in Attica flourished. In the middle of the 17th century it is mentioned sporadically in various sources, which however do not help us to learn a lot about it. In the beginning of the 18th century, during the period of the Turkish occupation, it declined, and already from 1702 it was the metochi of the Petraki Monastery, maintaining however some autonomy. Regarding its history until the revolution of 1821 we know very little. In 1971 a women’s sisterhood and modern buildings were added to its areas.

From the initial monastery complex what survive is the catholicon, the refectory and the defensive tower. The catholicon is a simple, four-columned, cross-in-square church of the 16th century, where later, probably in the 17th century, they added a vaulted narthex to the west. In its exterior the rumble masonry is used and its octagonal dome which mimics closely the so-called “Athenian” type, with small columns on the corners. The rest of the external surfaces of the church are decorated by plates.

At its interior survive wall paintings, the themes of which include the standard cycles, the representation of the Communion of the Apostles and scenes from Christ’s miracles. Wall painting representations survive and in the interior of the main refectory, one of the areas of the refectory, which is an oblong rectangular building and has two more halls, the kitchen and the buttery (area for storage of food). 

The monastery celebrates on the 8th of May and on the 26th of September.