The nunnery of Evangelismos (Annunciation)

New buildings erected in recent decades – among them, the big monastery of the Annunciation – surround the small church that was built next to a “kathisma” of the 16th century. Next to it there is the small church of Agios Loukas (Saint Luke) the Evangelist (1613) with an impressive door and a wood carved iconostasis plated with gold. It was built by the monk Nikephoros, in order to express his gratitude to the Saint when he recovered from a fatal disease. Nikephoros, who became an ecclesiarch, prior and bishop of Laodicea, was the founder of a high level school that served as a precursor of the School of Patmos. Later on, other ascetics lived in the hermitage and in 1937 it was ceded by the monastery of Saint John the Theologian to the elder Amphilochios Makris in order to found the convent. The small fraternity was then created and kept growing as time went by. Today, the convent is a home for nuns. Among other things, they are engaged in beekeeping, gardening, sewing and most of all embroidering: they preserve the traditional Patmian type of stitch called “spitha” (sparkle), which is believed to date back to the Byzantine aristocratic families. There is a path starting from the monastery of the Annunciation and leading to the Gardens of Saint Christodoulos. Info Tel.: + 30 22470 31276