Monastery of San Giovanni Theristìs
Place of worship
Monastero Ortodosso di San Giovanni Theristis, Bivongi - Regione Calabria
The Greek Orthodox Monastery of San Giovanni Theristìs, in Bivongi (RC), is one of the places of faith in Calabria where the ancient Greek Orthodox rite is still practised today.
Nestled in the green Stilaro Valley, the Bivongi monastery was built on the ancient hermitage where the Basilian saint John Theristis lived and worked in the 9th century. After his death, his places and his ‘’aghiasma‘’ (sacred spring) became a pilgrimage destination, giving rise in the 11th century to the Greek-Orthodox Monastery of St. John Theristis, which until the Norman conquest represented one of the most important Basilian monasteries in southern Italy, with a vast annexed library.
Today, the monastery church represents the perfect synthesis of Byzantine and Latin-Norman architecture in Calabria: the Norman elements are mainly noticeable in the interior, in the four corner pillars and in the arches supporting the dome, while the Byzantine style is evident in the exterior masonry.
After restoration, the interior appears rich in icons, paintings, frescoes depicting St John Theristis and sacred furnishings, such as the iconostasis and the splendid gold chandelier in the nave.
In the 17th century, due to numerous episodes of banditry, the monks decided to abandon the site for good and move the saint's relics to the nearby village of Stilo. After long abandonment, in the 1990s, the Bivongi monastery was renovated and assigned to the care of a community of Athonite monks (from Mount Athos, Greece).
Today, the use of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St John Theristis is granted to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
