Skete of Prophet Elijah

History and present days

From the carriage road or the cobbled path one reaches the Skete of the Prophet Elijah, which dominates the slope with its huge and massive cistern. It was originally a cell of the Monastery of Pantokrator. In 1757 it was granted to the Ukrainian-Moldavian monk Osios Paisios Velichkovsky. It was recognized in 1839 as a communal Russian-speaking skete. Its rapid building and population growth led to arguments with the Pantokrator Monastery, which feared the possibility of the Russian-speaking cenobitic sketes becoming monasteries. The disagreement led to lawsuits in secular courts and a compromise was reached only in 1892, with a patriarchal decision defining the relations between the two foundations. On 22.7.1881 the yacht "Ereklik" of the Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna anchored off the coast, while she was watching from the deck the progress of the works that were made in the skete. By her order, Vice Admiral Dmitry Golobatsov laid the foundation stone of the kyriakon, without the presence of a high priest. This irregular action further aggravated the strained relations between the monastery and the skete.

Its rapid growth in terms of buildings and population (at the beginning of the 20th century it had about 300 monks) was followed by a period of gradual desolation after the October Revolution (1917). In 1992 it was manned by Greek monks, who had previously been monks in the Xenophontos Skete of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.

Hermitage Guide

The skete has a rectangular structure. The wings around the magnificent and imposing kyriakon, house chapels, a trapeza, a kitchen, an arhontariki, the apartment of the head of the skete, monks' cells and an hagiographic workshop. The old hospital was converted into a guest house. Outside the north wing there is a well-preserved windmill. The whole building complex was completed between 1839-1903 and rests on a huge built-up terrace. In the underground spaces, the huge stone arches, that hold all the above-ground buildings together, are particularly impressive. An underground vaulted conduit leads to the sea. The main gate is in the west wing, under the bell tower. The west and east wings are the oldest.

The kyriakon has a length of 40 m., a width of 24 m. and a height of 32 m. at the top of the central dome. The niches are absent from the facades, which create a great sense of severity and tumor. It was built with chipped stone from the region, while marble and timber were transported from Odessa in the skete's privately owned sailing ship. Construction work began in 1893 and the church was consecrated in 1900 by the former Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim III, in the presence of Admiral Vivilov. The kyriakon is not hagiographed. The visitor is captivated by the towering wood-carved iconostasis, gilded with gold leaf, and the gilded shrines with reliquaries. In the right shrine there is the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary “Dakrirroousa”, which means the one who is in tears.

On February 17, 1876, the ecclesiastic of the skete found that tears were flowing from the eyes of the Virgin Mary. The miracle became known and Tsar Alexander II requested and took her to the front line of the war against Turkey. On the left there is the icon of the Prophet Elijah. The upper frieze of the iconostasis depicts Prophets, the lower one depicts Holy Apostles and below, in much smaller dimensions, scenes from the Dodekaorto. One has the feeling of being in a small Serai. The sanctuary is particularly spacious. The temple is three-storey with three Holy Tables: the middle space is dedicated to the prophet Elijah, the north to Saint Alexandra, and the south to Saint Andrew. Above the austere, there is a space where the choir of many members used to sing. The present position of the cantor's analogues does not help the good acoustics anymore. In the nave there hung brass gilt banners.

In the south wing there is the spacious chapel of Saint Mitrophanes and of the Holy Theopatores, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne (1840), with an eclectic iconostasis and Renaissance icons. On the ground floor of the north wing there is the chapel of Saint Nicholas. It is a basilica which served the congregation of the brotherhood while the main church was being built. In its gilded iconostasis, there is the icon of the Virgin Mary “Galaktotrophousa”, which means “Nursing”. Her shirt is made of pearls. In the southwest corner of the skete, on the first floor, there is the chapel of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (1761), built by Saint Paisios Velitskowski himself.

The skete had (1875) in its possession the two-masted sailing ship "Profitis Elijah", which docked in the bay of Plati in the bay of Ierissos.

The ship was leased to private individuals who were obliged once a year to perform the route Mount Athos - Konstantinople - Odessa - Taganrog (on the Sea of Azov) and return with financial help from the skete's metohia in Ukraine. In the skete's archives there is a deck log kept by the Skopelite captain Anagnostis Avgerinos during the voyage from Taganrog to the skete in August-September 1875. The journey had lasted 57 days.