MONASTERY OF AGIOS RAPHAEL
Monastery of Agios Raphael ( Saint Raphael ) in
Thermi : It is situated at the Northeastern and at a distance of 12Km
away from Mytilene and 3Km of Thermi on a olive grove covered hill
called "Karyes".
The today's Monastery has been built on the ruins
of a post-Christian basilica, which we can see in the surrounding place
: wall paintings, a red paved floor, the arch of ayiasma ( holy water )
and the holy icon of Jesus Christ ( painted in the 14th century ),
leaves of a membrane belonging to a hand-written Gospel and other
interesting ecclesiastical objects.
The 15th-century Christian martyr Raphael soon
made numerous appearances, at first before young and old men, then among
women and children, sometimes as a simple monk, and other times in the
sacerdotal vestments of a high dignitary of the church. The monk Raphael
was born Georgios Laskaridis to devout parents who gave him a good
education. After serving as an Army officer, he joined the Holy Order
and became a monk. He gradually rose in the ecclesiastical hierarchy to
become Archimandrite and Bishop at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople.
During a visit to France at the behest of the
Patriarch, Raphael met the student Nikolas who soon became his life-long
disciple and whose life henceforth was to be inextricably linked to that
of Raphael. The monk and his acolyte arrived in Thermi, Chios, in 1454.
They founded a spiritual brotherhood of which Raphael became the Abbot.
Their small monastery was established on the ruins of the 13th century
Holy Monastery of Panagia, which had been destroyed by the pirates.
The Turks, having conquered the island of Lesvos
in 1462, descended on Thermi during the Holy Week of April, 1463. They
seized Monk Raphael, Deacon Nikolas, the family of the village elder and
the village teacher. The Turks were merciless and treated their
prisoners in a very cruel manner. Raphael, in particular, was savagely
tortured, stabbed with bayonets and had his jaw cut off while being hung
by his feet on a walnut tree. Nikolas, while being repeatedly stabbed
with bayonets, died of heart failure from seeing the suffering of his
beloved Abbot. The Turks left only after burning down the monastery to
the ground.
There are three periods in the
Monastery's history : (a) from the 10th century till the year 1235 -
year of its destruction because of a pirates' raid - last abbess Ayia
Olympia, (b) from the year 1433 till 1463 - year of its second
destruction by the Ottomans - last abbot Agios Raphael and (c) from the
year 1962 till today.
It is a woman's Monastery which has been dedicated
to Saint Raphael - his holy skeleton has been found with Agios Nikolaos
and Agias Irene too, year of their martyrdom 1463. In 1962 the Monastery
was founded on the basis of a Greek State's Regulation.
Firstly the Cathedral was built and afterwards the
cells and a church dedicated to Agia Magdalini. All the works and the
relative decoration have been paid by offers and donations of pilgrims
and under the control of a Committee that had been established by
Mytilini' Metropolis.
