Amorgos Ai Giorgis o Varsamitis

Amorgos - Ai Giorgis o Varsamitis

Seated on the terraces of the forecourt around the roses which smell beautifully you will enjoy the serenity of the place. The church of Ai Giorgis o Varsamitis is a three-aisled, vaulted basilica of the 16th century, built upon earlier temples, as it is believed. Its architecture is very interesting. Until the Byzantine period it was an autonomous monastery and then it became a dependency of Hozoviotissa. It was hagiographed in different periods -in fact today the murals of the 18th century and perhaps earlier ones are preserved.

Varsamitis is connected to a very old ceremony of hydrodivination. In the spring-oracle not only Amorgians resorted, but also people from the surrounding islands. The “talking water” was silenced in 1967 after a decision by the Diocese of Thera, Amorgos and Islands and the point from where there was access to the spring was sealed with cement. However, the locals did not stop going to the church, and you will see the spring still flowing, in lower intensity, inside. On the island the faith in the holy water was absolute and almost nobody would do tradings, weddings, travels and studies unless advised by Ai Giorgis o Varsamitis . As the locals say, thousands of times the prediction has come true…

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– From the church of Varsamitis an old path begins leading to Katapola.

– At Skopi you will clearly see a tower (most probably of the 13th century) from where people supervised the Aegean sea.


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