ELLOPOS Photo Blog

In the fifth century, Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem testified before Emperor Marcian as to the authenticity of the tradition about the miraculous ascent of the Mother of God to Heaven, and he sent to Empress Pulcheria the grave wrappings of the Mother of God from Her tomb. Pulcheria then placed these grave-wrappings within the Blachernae church.
Accounts have been preserved, that at the end of the seventh century a church had been built atop the underground Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, and that from its high bell-tower could be seen the dome of the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. Traces of this church are no longer to be seen. In the ninth century near the subterranean Gethsemane Church a monastery was built, in which more than 30 monks struggled.
In 1009, great destruction was done to the Church by the despoiler of the holy places, Hakim. Radical changes, the traces of which remain at present, also took place under the crusaders in 1130.
But in spite of the destruction and the changes, the overall original cruciform (cross-shaped) plan of the church has been preserved. To enter the church, it is necessary to go down a stairway of 48 steps. At the 23rd step on the right side is a chapel in honor of the holy Ancestors-of-God Joachim and Anna together with their graves, and on the left side opposite, the chapel of St. Joseph the Betrothed with his grave. The right chapel belongs to the Orthodox Church, and the left to the Armenian Church (since 1814).

• Katholikon of the Zitsa Dormition
• Entering the Dormition in Zitsa
• Dormition Monastery, Zitsa
• Divine Ladder
• Yard of Pogoniotissa
• Window of Panaghia Cosmosotera
• Tsouka Monastery – Ioannina
• Towers of Panaghia
• The Mother of God in Varlaam
• The church is not big enough for me