One-day excursion to Mega Spilaio ("Great Cave" in Greek) Monastery. Perhaps the most important pilgrimage of Orthodoxy in Greece. It is located ten kilometers northeast of Kalavryta and causes awe to those who see it. The monastery of Mega Spilaio is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary and took its name from its very location. Built at the opening of a large natural cave, at 900 meters, in the mountain range of Helmos, above the steep ravine of Vouraikos river, the monastery gives an even more imposing tone to the wild natural landscape of the area where it is located.
A one-day excursion to Mega Spilaio is enough to admire the special beauties of this historic monastery. The complex has eight floors while the main church is decorated with frescoes of 1653. The ornate wood-carved iconostasis was built in 362 AD by the Thessalonian brother monks, Simeon and Theodore. This is the most prevalent date of creation of the monastery, which makes it the oldest in Greece. The two brothers, who stood out for their education and piety, practiced on Mount Olympus, Ossa and Mount Athos, aiming to meet enlightened hesychasts. And from Mount Athos they went to the Holy Land.
According to the tradition, the two brothers were in Jerusalem when they saw an apparition. In Jerusalem priests were anointed by the bishop of the Holy City, Maximus. The order of the optasia stated that the brothers had to go to Achaia to find the Holy Icon of the Virgin Mary created from mastic and wax by Luke the Evangelist. Simeon and Theodore wandered until in 362 AD they met in the village of Galatas - today's Zachlorou – a shepherdess.
Euphrosyne, as was her name, led them to the Great Cave where the Holy Icon was located. Which depicts the Virgin Mary holding Jesus with her right hand, while he touches with his left hand the left hand of the Virgin Mary and in the right holds the Gospel.
Throughout its history, the Mega Spilaio (Great Cave) has experienced many adventures, such as being set on fire by the iconoclasts (people that didn't believe in the icon worshiping) in 840. Andronikos Palaiologos restored it in 1285 and it became one of the wealthiest monasteries for a while. It suffered two more fires in 1400 and 1600, which destroyed the church and the valuable library with rare manuscripts.
The Metropolitan of Patras Parthenios laid siege to Kalavryta in 1770. The abbot of the Monastery of Mega Spilaio and some monks went to Kalavryta and mediated to end the siege and let the Turkish families escape safely. This act of the abbot spared the monastery later, when the rebellion was crushed and the Peloponnese was brutally plundered. A few decades later, in June 1827, monks and locals resisted Ibrahim’s attack. Abbot Damaskinos’ brave answer to Ibrahim was: “Worshiping is out of the question. If you come here to fight us and win, it is not a big deal, because you will beat some priests. But if you lose … It will be a shame for you".
In 1934, in a great fire, priceless relics were destroyed. The monastery was rebuilt in 1936 but was burned and looted by the Nazis in December 1943. The monks paid for the atrocity of the Nazis, who after murdering all 22 in a barbaric way, threw them off a steep cliff.
Despite the adventures, the monastery preserves -in its museum, which you will visit if you visit- relics of the Revolution of 1821, a Byzantine banner with the figures of three emperors, sigils, old volumes, even a cross with Holy Wood, and of course the miraculous icon of Panagia Megalospilaiotissa.
The icon is three inches thick and embossed, but the fires that ravaged the monastery throughout its history have damaged a large part of it. Nevertheless, its value is immense since it is believed that this icon, along with the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, was given by Saint Luke to his spiritual son, the ruler of Achaia Theophilos, who in turn passed them on to his descendants, who hid them in the Great Cave during the persecutions until Euphrosyne found them.
Mega Spilaio is an ideal suggestion for a one-day excursion from Athens. Before you take the way back, make a stop in Kalavryta to taste delicious dishes - grilled or cooked.
