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Monastery · Meteora, Thessaly

Varlaam Monastery

Ιερά Μονή Βαρλαάμ · Ιερά Μονή Αγίων Πάντων - Βαρλαάμ

Varlaam is the Holy Monastery of All Saints, a working Orthodox monastery on a rock of Meteora in the Municipality of Meteora, Thessaly, named after the hermit Varlaam who, by tradition, first settled the rock in the 14th century.

Why go

The Holy Monastery of All Saints, known as Varlaam, stands on a rock close to and facing the Great Meteoron's, according to the Holy Metropolis of Stagoi and Meteora, whose page says that, by tradition, the hermit Varlaam, a contemporary of St Athanasios of Meteora, first settled it in the 14th century and gave the monastery its name. The same page dates the present katholikon, dedicated to All Saints, to 1541/42, built by the hieromonk brothers Theophanes and Nektarios Apsaras from Ioannina, and attributes its wall paintings to Frangos Katelanos on stylistic grounds; Visit Greece also names Katelanos and mentions the monastery's historic scriptorium. The Metropolis page says manuscripts are displayed in the monastery's museum. No visiting page of the monastery itself was found; the Municipality of Meteora lists a winter and a summer timetable and a weekly closing day for Varlaam, so check before going. This record is the monastery, not the Meteora rock formation or the town of Kalambaka.

Near Varlaam Monastery