Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Monastery of Petrilo)

At an  elevation of 1,400 meters at a wonderful natural flat area, at the southern slopes that descend from mount Voutsikaki,  at a beautiful and calm location in the fir tree forest, at a true natural balcony over the settlement of Argyreika and with a view to the settlements of Petrilo, is the Monastery that is dedicated to the memory of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, or as the people of the area use to call it, the “Monastery of Agios Charalambos”, due to the relics of the saints, that are kept in the monastery.         

The date of the monastery’s foundation is unknown, but from the limited information we have available, it can be said that it was active at least from 1600 as a patriarchal and stauropegic monastery, which belonged to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Regarding then first founder, the priest-monk Daniel is mentioned as the one, while the priest-monk Zosimas and later the priest-monk Theoclitos and the monk Kallinikos appear to have made renovations. The monastery was destroyed a lot of times by raids of the Turks, since its fortified location allowed the monks and the people of the area to find refuge in it.

From the correspondence of the great teacher, Agios Anastasios Gordios (1654-1729), who signed dated letters from the monastery in 1713, it is evident that there were 47 monks in the monastery at that time.

The present day of the monastery is a more recent one.

The catholicon dates from 1830, as testified by an inscription at the gate. At its interior 140 wall paintings survive by the brothers Mathew and Michael Papaioannou. Very impressive is the wooden-carved screen with the icon of St John the Baptist, which dates from the 1700.

During the Revolution of 1821 the monastery provided invaluable services, while a lot of times the heroes of the Revolution, Karaiskakis, Boukouvalas, Katsantonis and others used it as a fortress.

In the beginning of the 20th century the historic patriarchal and stauropegic monastery was abandoned, dissolved and declined, a course that lasted until the end of the 20th century, when due to the interest shown by the people of the area the first restoration works were carried out at the monument.

In 2008, after more than 100 years of abandonment and neglect, with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Thessaliotis and Fanariofarsala Kyrillos II, a brotherhood settled at the Monastery consisting of young, educated monks, who under adverse conditions made the areas of the monastery habitable and functional and undertook the process for its reconstruction, both materially and spiritually.

Nowadays, the monastery keeps a reliquary with parts of the relics of Agios Charalambos, Ioannis Chtrysostomos, Tryphonas and Panteleimonas, as well as some manuscripts and portable icons.

The Monastery celebrates on the 8th of September, honoring the birth of the Virgin Mary. Furthermore, they honor particularly the feast days of Agios Charalambos on the 10th of February and the translation of the relics of Osios Arsenios on the 18th of August.