The Monastery of Petra is a magnificent building of the Byzantine period and is located on the wooded hillside, directly opposite and SE of the fortress and settlement of Petra, at a distance of about 2 kilometers.
In the past, the richest monastery of Panagia tis Petra belonged directly to the Patriarchate (Stavropigiaki), while the property of the monastery in forests and estates included entire villages.
The church of the monastery dedicated to the Entry of the Virgin Mary, it is unknown exactly when it was founded. A stone inscription, placed above the western entrance of the catholicon, bears the date 1134, while its renovation is mentioned in 1151.
This is also confirmed by an almost entirely preserved building inscription consisting of 4 verses on a slab located on the floor of the church in front of the despotic.
"brilliantly together with God
Nikitas, Petras thytis raised the
flowers for the cause of the resolution of conflagrations
in the year(s) of the XNTH' in (diktionos) iv"
The date 1151 was also inscribed with Arabic numerals on a false window in front of the church .
The current church of the monastery was built in 1754 and repaired in 1815. On its walls there are built-in early Christian and Byzantine sculptures, among which a marble depiction of Saint Demetrius (perhaps from the 14th century).
The monastery played an important role in the struggles of the Nation, since several battles were fought in its area. In 1798, in a battle that took place near the monastery, captain Tolios Lazos, uncle of the Livadi fighter Georgakis Olympiou, was killed by the Turkalvanian Yussuf Arapi.
Bishop Kitrous Nikolaos Lousis from the monastery of Petra issued on March 4, 1878 the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of Macedonia (formed in Litochoro on February 19, of which the hieromonk of Nikiforos Monastery was also a member) to its wintering people, and in the Moni, together with the hieromonk of the pope - Athanasios Georgiou, blessed the banner of the revolution.
Today, the Catholic church has been preserved from the Old Monastery, while the surrounding buildings have been converted into facilities where patients with mental problems are accommodated.
Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou