Drama, Macedonia, Greece, March 15, 2024
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.com
Remarkable facts about the history of Panagia Eikosiphoinissa Monastery in Pangaio, Greece, have been discovered in manuscripts that were recently returned to the convent 100 years after they were stolen.
In 1917, hundreds of items were plundered from the monastery in northern Greece by Bulgarian combatants in WWI, including three 16th and 17th-century manuscripts that eventually made their way to America.
They were sold at auction in 2008, but the buyer later returned them, believing the manuscripts to have been stolen. At that point, the documents were misplaced, and only found years later when offices at Swann Auction Galleries were being renovated.
The manuscripts were ceremonially returned to their rightful home in October of last year.
And according to a new announcement from the Diocese of Drama, a note and text related to the massacre of the monks of Eikosiphoinissa by the Ottomans in 1507 were found in the manuscripts, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
Researchers were aware of the existence of the manuscript and the that 172 monks were slaughtered, but now the names of all the victims—202 in all—are known.
The note states: “In the year 1507, a great and unforeseen calamity came upon the holy monastery, and they cut down the monks and plundered the monastery, on the 25th of August, indiction 10.”
The victims included 24 hieromonks, 3 hierodeacons, 145 lay monks, and 30 pilgrims.
A study of the manuscript determined that the writing is contemporaneous with the massacre.
The Metropolis of Drama considers the discovery a great blessing and will continue the struggle to return other manuscripts and relics to the monastery.
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