ELAIONAS

The village of Elaionas lies some 9 km to the northeast of the city of Serres, and some 90 minutes on foot from the Monastery of the Timios Prodromos. Set in beautiful countryside with abundant water, the village is built at an altitude of 400 metres. In times gone by, the village was a very popular resort for the people of Serres, and was known as Dutli (in Turkish, dut means mulberry) due to the masses of mulberry bushes there used to be in the area, along with olive and other fruit-bearing trees. Post-Byzantine sources refer to the village as Gorianis. The church of Agios Nikolaos stands on what is now the village square. It is quite small for a Byzantine church, measuring 5.7 by 5.8 metres without the apse. The church is cruciform in shape with a dome, and is of a four-column design. The dome is large, covering a significant part of the church, and is supported on the four columns and the arches between them. The apse is a continuation of the eastern section of the cross. There is an undulating double crenellated cornice around the outside of the octagonal dome and the three-sides of the apse. The church was constructed using bricks with added wood for support, while the dome is built entirely of bricks. The ugly narthex, added to its western side in 1851, along with the recently added concrete roof serve to considerably reduce the church's original aesthetic appeal.

The Byzantine church of Agios Nikolaos in Elaionas. The view from the north-east

The interior of the church has, for the most part, been replastered in the modern era and is covered in frescoes painted at the beginning of the century. However, in late 1970 the upper half of an original wall icon was discovered under a thick layer of plaster on the church's eastern wall, just to the left of the vestry niche. The accompanying inscription declares the fresco to be of Saint Damian. It is not in very good condition. The saint is depicted full length and full-face, and is in an upright pose. He has a bag of tools in his left hand. As far as the iconographic style is concerned, Professor E. Tsigaridas, who discovered and researched the picture, upholds that it was painted in accordance with older prototypes. From a technical point of view, he ascribes it to a local secular workshop. Stylistically speaking, during our research, we noticed a close resemblance with the rock painting of the Virgin (1382) in neighbouring Oinousa, both in the lines of the folds in the cloth, and the attempt to portray the weight of the face with the lines under the eyes. Recent support work on the monument necessitated the removal of large sections of the Twentieth Century frescoes from the inside of the church, which brought to light a further four paintings on the original layer of plaster; three saints on the southern wall, and Saint John the Baptist in the vestry apse. The design of the church, along with most of its characteristics, are those of the Constantinople school. It most probably dates from the Twelfth Century.

OINOUSA

Oinousa lies some 7 kilometres east of the city of Serres at an altitude of 130 metres on the slopes of Mount Menoikios. It became an administrative entity for the first time in 1927, but is now part of the Municipality of Serres. The rock icons: Just 1.5 kilometres north of Oinousa (known during Byzantine times as Trevesaina, and later on as Dervesiani) is a spot known locally as Faneromeni (which means "the place of revelation"). A Byzantine icon has been painted onto the steep limestone southern face of Vlaselnikos Hill some 5.5 metres above ground, and sheltered by a natural ledge in the rock above. It depicts the Panagia Odigitria holding Christ on her right arm, flanked by the two Archangels. The fresco is now in very bad condition, due both to ill treatment and the weather. The central figure of the Virgin, depicted in her full magnificence, is represented from the chest up. She is holding Christ with her right arm, her left hand resting on her breast. Her body is slightly turned towards the holy infant, and her head is gently bowed. Her left shoulder is slightly raised in a natural way. Christ - portrayed here as an infant - is presented full-length in three-quarters view. He is seated comfortably on the right arm of his Mother. His left hand is raised in a gesture of blessing, while he is probably holding a piece of brocade in his left hand. The two winged archangels-in-waiting are positioned symmetrically to the left and right of the Virgin (Michael to the right, and Gabriel to the left, in accordance with Byzantine protocol).

"Fanermeni", on the Southern slopes of Vlaselnikos Hill near Oinousa

They are depicted from the knee up in an upright position, their bodies slightly raised but painted on a smaller scale. Their arms are bent under the weight of a sceptre, which they are holding at chest height and which turns into a cross in its upper sections. With their other hands, they are offering up a blue sphere, which symbolises the world as a whole. The surface of the sphere - which has only survived on the side of the Archangel Gabriel - is decorated with the monogram representing Christ. The seven-verse inscription painted straight onto the surface of the rock on the western side of the icon, although misspelled and hard to read, clearly gives the exact date of its creation - 6890 years from the Creation of the World, which is to say in the year of our Lord 1382. The inscription reads as follows: «Ιστορήθη η αγία εικών της αγί/ας Θεοτόκου διά συνδρο/μής και εξόδου ιερομονάχου/ του Νικήτα, υιός και υιού αυτού/ ιερέως Χριστοδούλου/ 6890 έτους./ Χειρ του Κασταμονίτου», which translates as: “Depicts the holy icon of the Virgin Mother, paid for and with the help of the monk Nikitas, who was the son of the priest Christodoulos, and his son, in the year 6890 by the hand of Kastamonitis”.

The holy water: The presence of a natural cavity just below the out-door icon reveals its liturgical character. The trickle of water is clearly that of the blessed healing spring of the Virgin, which, in all probability, was in use prior to the painting of the icon. The holy well probably owes its existence to a divine revelation - probably by the Virgin - in this very spot; this interpretation is clearly supported by the name of the area - "the place of revelation". The water - which drips into the cavity drop by drop from a crack in the rock after the first rains of autumn - is believed by the faithful to be the tears of the Virgin. The water is therefore accredited with miracle-working properties. Pilgrims still visit the site to pay their respects and hang items of their clothing or their handkerchiefs - known as the "tzatzala" - on near-by bushes because, according to a folk tradition, once the sufferer has been treated with the holy water, their illness is transferred to inanimate objects in a way presenting no danger to others. Of course, the decision to represent the Virgin and Child with the two archangels in the icon above the holy water was not a random one. The decision to transfer this particular iconographic configuration from its normal position in the niche of the Sanctuary to the bare rock was undoubtedly of symbolic significance.

The central group from the rock painting

Just as that particular section of the church unites the roof with the floor, like "a bridge that spans the divide between Earth and heaven", in other words linking Earth to Heaven; in the same way it was the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ - She who was to reconcile the Creator with His creations; She who was to bridge the chasm created by Eve and play an active part in the salvation of the world - that was chosen once again to convey the prayers of the, in the main sick, worshippers to God. Built on flat land in the shadow of the southern foothills of Mount Menoikios, some 1,300 metres south of the hamlet of Oinousa (Byzantine Trevesaina), is a late Byzantine single-nave renovated church (internal measurements: 4.5 by 5.23 metres including the apses). It has three apses in all, and a dome. All the apses appear semicircular from the exterior. From 1341 on, it was in all probablity connected to the catholikon of Agios Nikolaos - known as the Xanthopoulou - a monastic dependency of the near-by Monastery of the Agion Anargyron in Chionochori, itself the property of the Athonite Monastery of the Ibiroi. This place, known for its numerous water mills during the Byzantine period, later became, in succession, a dependency of the Monastery of the Timios Prodromos of Serres, and a Turkish country estate. The monument remained buried under meters of earth and covered in thick vegetation until 1953. In 1956, it was dug out and renovated in a clumsy manner, its roof being replaced by a concrete slab. A few fragments of the original wall paintings remained on the eastern section of the Sanctuary apse until recent times. It is said that the modern representation of the Virgin on the apse frieze was an exact copy of the original on which it was over-painted. The same is said about the icons in the small recess in the northern side of the Sanctuary and the arch over the lintel of the Western exonarthex. The inscription stating the date of the church's foundation on the modern marble plaque south of the entrance has no firm basis in historical records.

CHIONOCHORI

The picturesque, mountain village of Chionochori, once home to stock breeders but now deserted, lies some 7 kilometres north of Oinousa on the southern slopes of Mount Menoikios at an altitude of 515 metres. It is an hour's walk to the southeast of the Monastery of the Timios Prodromos. The village was founded by inhabitants of the neighbouring village of Keranitsas (known as Keranitza in Byzantine times). Later on, semi-nomadic Vlachs from Abdella near Grevena settled in the village. Tradition has it that they had abandoned their homelands to escape further persecution at the hands of Ali Pasha Tepelenli. During the years of Turkish occupation, the village came to be known as Karlikioi -meaning "Snow Village" - because its inhabitants would store snow in holes during the winter to sell in the city during the summer months. Following liberation in 1913, the village became an administrative part of the Community of Agios Pneuma. In 1923 it became a community in its own right, but it is today part of the Municipality of Serres. The villagers started drifting away from the village in 1927 to settle in neighbouring Oinousa. The last inhabitant left the village for good in 1967. The church of the Agioi Anargiroi stands in the centre of the village. This post-Byzantine church dates from the first half of the Nineteenth century, and its basilica is of a three-aisled design, the central aisle being vaulted. The wooden rood screen contains fragments of a former carved and gilded screen from the early Eighteenth century. The masterly icons were painted during the second half of the Nineteenth century, as were the folk-art pictures on the walls. A small Byzantine chapel (measuring 3.67 by 7.77 metres) has survived, carved into the stone of the elevated western section of the church's exonarthex. The chapel is ascribed to the catholikon of the Byzantine Monastery of the Agioi Anargiroi. The entrance - with a wood surround - faces east. A narrow passageway leads from the entrance into the main section of the chapel with its two octagonal marble columns topped by capitals. The tops of the capitals are carved with a honeysuckle design, while the sides of one are decorated with rosettes, and the other with crosses. The small sanctuary is situated to the right of the passageway. The rood screen consists of a marble architrave with a cross in its centre flanked by decorative meanders and rhombuses. The screen is supported by two small pillars. Two marble portals decorated with crosses are attached to the lower part of the screen. A third, this time carved with crosses and rosettes, is built into the outside wall at the south end of the church. The architrave of the Royal Gate is also executed in marble. To the north of the entrance, the picture of the saint has survived. He is depicted holding a Gospel in his left hand, which he is blessing with his right. The passageway into the cave-like chapel is covered with wall paintings of the same saint and representation of the Beheading of the Baptist, while the Royal Gate in the rood screen is flanked by a depiction of Christ on the one side, and the Virgin holding the infant Christ in her left arm on the other.

A partial view of picturesque Chionohori  from the south

The painting of the Agioi Anargiroi can still be made out on the north wall of the main chapel: the two healer saints each hold an open chest in their arms containing the tools and medicines of their trade. There is an icon of an unidentified saint or martyr next to that of the Anargiroi, who is holding a martyr's sceptre or cross in his right hand. The icons in the central section and the passageway are among the oldest in the church, and are all painted directly onto the natural stone. Many ascribe several of the wall paintings in the important neighbouring monastery of the Timios Prodromos to this same anonymous artist. The interior of the church is covered with post-Byzantine wall icons, which were painted at a later date. The main frieze of the Virgin with Child, with Saint John Chrysostom, Christ, the Virgin, Saint Stephanos and Saint Grigorios arraigned around them is to be found in the carved niche in the eastern wall. The history of this Byzantine church is linked to Ioannikios of Serres, the founder of the Monastery of the Timios Prodromos. According to the first chapter of the Rubric drawn up by his nephew, the Blessed Ioakeim (later Ioannis), the Metropolitan of Zichne and second founder of the same monastery, shortly after his uncle's departure from Mount Athos, where he had taken his vows and been ordained as a priest, he returned in around 1260 to the city of his birth. Once there, he set off in search of a remote spot on the eastern slopes of Mount Menoikios to shut himself off from the world and continue his monastic existence. He found a small, abandoned, uncared for cell, with only its small church - which was dedicated to Saints Kosmas and Damianos, the Anargiroi - still intact. Having settled there with his two-year-old orphaned nephew, he took great care of it, rebuilt its cells and made it into a refuge for ascetics. He left a few years prior to 1279, leaving an older ascetic in his place, having succeeded in his goal of attracting other monks to the place, where he had built cells for them. He then set off with his nephew in search of another inaccessible area further to the west. He lived for a short time in a damp cave before descending lower down the mountain and founding the famous monastery of the Timios Prodromos. Later Byzantine sources, dating from between 1310 and 1357, refer to the church of the Anargiroi as a dependency of the Athonite Monastery of the Ibiroi, and ascribe to it the added epithet of "Leaskos". In time the monastery acquired its own dependency: the Monastery of Ioannis Theologos of Libobistos, near Serres. The Monastery of the Anargiroi seems to have enjoyed something of an apogee during this period, since a golden bull issued by Emperor Andronikos II in 1322 assigned both monks and a number of properties to the monastery, including land in Trevesaina (present-day Oinousa), Trevesenikia, and the area surrounding the monastery itself at Libobistos, near Serres Castle. These final grants of land, especially the ownership of the dependency at Keranitza, were to cause a great deal of animosity on the part of the neighbouring monastery of the Timios Prodromos. During the period of Serbian rule, two golden bulls issued by Stefan Dousan in 1346 confirm the monastery of the glorious miracle-working Anargiroi to be a dependency of the Iberite Monastery. A later golden bull of 1351 issued by Ioannis VI Cantacuzenus refers to the monastery as an “agridion”. We come across the last reference to the monastic dependency of the Agioi Anargiroi in a golden bull of confirmation issued by Ioannis V Palaiologos in 1357 concerning the possessions of the Athonite monastery of Ibiroi. In all probability, the monastery was destroyed shortly before 1371.

Petros K. Samsaris