Monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos (Mazaraki)

At the village Vagia, near Thebes, is the post Byzantine monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos, also known with the name Mazaraki.

The monastery was founded in the 16th century and more specifically in the period 1540-1570. During the years of the Revolution of 1821 it was a base of operations for the activity of the chieftains of the area, while its monks were scattered. It resumed its activities after the liberation, but only for a limited period since it was abolished after an edict by King Otto, in 1833, and its property was transferred to the newly founded Greek state. In 1969 it was re-founded and from then on functioned as a women’s monastery. Then they built new cell and workshop complexes and they carried out restoration works at the catholicon.

Today the monastery complex is completely renovated. The church belongs to the type of cross-in-square with a dome and is built rather diligently by local stones, which came from the nearby mountain. Behind the chapel of the Myrrhbearers is the tomb of the Metropolitan of Thebes and Livadeia Nikolaos Graikos, which lived in the monastery from 1986 until his death, in 1996.

The monastery celebrates twice a year, on the 8th of May and the 26th of September.