Monastery of Agios Efraim (Monastery of the Annunciation of Virgin Mary)

On the northeastern foothills of Penteli mountain, at the Xilokeriza location of Nea Makri, is the Monastery of the Annunciation of Virgin Mary and Agios Efraim, a pilgrimage of thousands of believers from all over Greece.

At the mountain of Amomon, as Mount Penteli used to be called, and at the location of the present day monastery, there was an old men’s monastery of the Annunciation. It seems that it flourished for centuries and in patriarchical documents of the 16th and the 17th century it is mentioned as a stauropegic one, dedicated to the Nativity of Virgin Mary.
Its history is connected to the life and the death as a martyr of Agios Efraim, who came here at a young age to become a monk in the beginning of the 15th century. In 1424 and in 1425 the monastery suffered two great destructions by the Turks. During the second one, Agios Efraim was captured, tortured for a lot of months and was killed on the 5th of May 1426. In 1945 the monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was re-founded by the nun Makaria, who in 1950 discovered in the ruins the relics of Agios Efraim. In 1975 the monastery was renamed into monastery of Annunciation, which was the initial historical name, and still functions as a women’s monastery.

The old catholicon of the monastery, which is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, belongs to the type of basilica and its interior is richly decorated with wall paintings. The newer church, of Byzantine style, is dedicated to Agios Efraim and in its interior there is a reliquary with the saint’s relics, while at the courtyard of the monastery there is a tree, where according to tradition, the saint was killed.

The monastery celebrates on January 3rd (day when the relics of the saint were found) and on May 5th (day of the saint’s death).