MACHAIRA MONASTERY

Machairas Monastery (Ιερά Μονή Μονή Ιερά/Iera Moni Machaira, Machairas Monastery) is located at an altitude of 1,423 meters. During the visits, the silence of the place is respected. The monks, very close to the rigorism of Mount Athos (Greece), lead a very strict life. Photos and videos are prohibited. The present building dates back to the end of the 19th century, while the initial construction was carried out in the 12th century thanks to two hermits who, having discovered an icon of the Virgin, asked the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenos to found their monastery there. The building was to be destroyed and rebuilt several times until the 19th century, the icon escaping the fire twice. The name Machairas (machairi, in Greek, means knife) comes from the knife placed on the icon of the Virgin found by the two hermits. The site is also attached to a great man of the struggle for independence: Grigoris Afxentiou, like other of his EOKA comrades, took refuge in the monastery (you can see him in the small museum, disguised as a monk) from where he led activist operations. Betrayed by an informer (a shepherd), Grigoris and his followers found themselves surrounded by British forces, trapped in a small room near the monastery. He was the only one who refused to surrender: the British blew up the hut and he died in the ensuing fire. 300 m above the monastery, a memorial in the form of a majestic statue represents it with the eagle which was its emblem.