Xanthi is an ideal Easter destination. It combines everything. Tradition, architecture, history, Byzantine churches, monasteries and pilgrimages. Holy Week services in Xanthi have their own unique reverence. As you walk through the narrow streets of the old town, you will hear the Byzantine sounds from the chanters’ lecterns and your gaze will surely fall on one of the many chapels, where under the light of candles, the icons testify to the personal faith of each person.

Each of the temples of the old city has its own unique beauty and history, which is sure to captivate the faithful spiritually: from the pericallous metropolitan temple of the Holy Forerunner, the picturesque stone-built temple of Akathisto Hymnos, to the temple of Agios Vlasios, opposite the house of Hatzidakis and the holy church of Agios Georgios, where on Maundy Thursday one can worship the crucified Christ, painted by Fotis Kontoglou.

At the peak of Easter, however, the steps lead to the two monasteries of Xanthi, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in the heart of the Periasian forest. There, high on the mountain, the Greek Orthodox tradition meets faith and the incomparable beauty of nature. The believer cannot remain unmoved by the wildflowers and fragrant trees in Spring, nor by the chirping of the birds that welcome him to their own place.

The bells that ring at Panagia Archangeliotissa and Panagia Kalamos resound throughout the city. The holy figure of Panagia “embraces” the city with a thousand colors and protects residents and visitors. The holy days of Easter in the two monasteries of Panagia on the mountain have a special beauty.

The monastery of Panagia Archangeliotissa

The men’s monastery of Panagia Archangeliotissa is located northeast of Xanthi, on the fringes of the Rhodope massif, in an extremely wonderful position, overlooking the plain of Xanthi, just above the Samakov district.

In this monastery, throughout the year, and especially on the fifteenth of August, thousands of pilgrims come who form endless lines to worship the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary. As a building, this monastery, as it stands today, was built in 1841. However, it existed in the same location hundreds of years earlier, but was destroyed by two major earthquakes in 1829, which affected the monastery and the city.

As Archimandrite Father Anthimos Kostarakis explains, speaking to APE-MPE, “unfortunately we do not have much information about the earlier life of the monastery. The only structural evidence is a crypt located behind and below the holy step, which dates back to 1000 to 1100 AD. However, the lack of information from inscriptions or other sources shed some light on certain notes and reminiscences entered from time to time in various church books by the monks. So, from them, the codes and church books, we are informed that the monastery existed and bore the same name in 1559”.

The origin of the name of the holy monastery

Where exactly the monastery got its name is unknown. According to one version, he got it from the small miraculous icon of the 16th century, which represented the Virgin Mary attended by the archangels Gabriel and Michael and which has the inscription: Archangel. Along with the name Archaggeliotissa, in earlier years the monastery was also called Panagia Chalkaliotissa.

“Regardless of its name”, Father Anthimos notes, “the monastery has been a beacon of spiritual radiation and consolation for all the inhabitants of the area and a nursery from which distinguished high priests emerged during difficult years for the church. These spiritual figures of the monastery, when they became high priests, not only did not forget the monastery they nurtured, but out of gratitude they offered it various tributes and even handwritten books – codices that have survived to this day”.

The ecclesiastical museum of the Holy Metropolis of Xanthi operates in the monastery today, where important ecclesiastical relics are kept.

The bell tower that dominates the monastery was built in 1844 and was the only one at that time, in the entire surrounding area, because the Turks did not allow bell towers or bells. One of the most tragic moments the monastery experienced was when it was looted by the Bulgarian occupying troops, during the years 1913-1919, and the soldiers stripped it of all its sacred relics and precious codes.

After the liberation of Xanthi from the Bulgarians, the monastery gave a large part of its property to fields for the rehabilitation of the landless refugees who settled in the area coming from the forgotten homelands of Asia Minor.

The monastery of Panagia Kalamos

The monastery is located north of Xanthi, on a rock overlooking the Kossynthos ravine. From up here, the pilgrim can admire the entire mountainous area of ​​the Rhodopes, up to the border with Bulgaria and let his gaze wander to the depth of the horizon on the plain of Xanthi.

This women’s monastery, as it is today, is a building of only the beginning of the 20th century, and its temple, as a building, is completely modern since it was erected in 1965, in place of the old one, which was very roughly constructed. The cells of the monks are also contemporary. Unfortunately, apart from a few portable icons, especially of the Virgin Mary, nothing bears witness to its rich and glorious past.

However, according to historical tradition, this monastery was built during the times of the iconoclasm (726 – 843), by iconophile monks, who, escaping the fanaticism of the iconoclasts, left Constantinople and settled in the area of ​​Xanthi. As for its name (“Kalamou” or “Kalamiotissa”), it comes from the fact that the icon of the Virgin Mary was found in some reeds.

The modern researcher can derive important information about the more than thousand-year course of the monastery through memories and dedications found in old church books. From there he learns interesting facts about the various moments of the monastery’s existence, thus tracing its rich and varied spiritual and liturgical life.