The south side of the castle of Argos, adorns the white monastery of Agia Marina. A relatively small complex, which literally hangs on the edge of the mountain of Larissa. The historic castle of Argos stands proudly on it.
"At the top, near where today there is the church of Ag. Marinis, there was the temple of Zeus of Larissa, without a floor and a wooden statue worshiped almost up to Pausanios ". (Ioannis Zegkinis. Argos through the centuries. Athens 1996).
In 1965, two nuns, the Samioti sisters, after the death of their mother, were separated from the company of their brother Theoklitos, Abbot of the neighboring Monastery, dedicated to the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and settled in Agia Marina.
There they built the first small houses. The temple and the surrounding area were donated by the Association of the Shoemakers of Argos. (It is inadvertently mentioned in many notes that they bought it from them. It was never their property but was given to them by a decision of the Ecclesiastical Council of Timios Prodromos, as we will see below.) The Metropolitan of Argolis, Mr. Chrysostomos II, helped them in their efforts. ΄ Deligianopoulos. The Convent was built in 1972 by official decree.
The church is a small tiled basilica, with an inner dome and dimensions of 6.5 x8.5 meters. Its iconostasis is simple and wooden. It has only portable folk style icons that are works of 1830-1870. The western wall of the church is a partition wall of another building, which was added later and which serves as a small house. In its place there used to be a cistern for storing water. The new cell building has been built southwest of the temple.
In the courtyard of the Monastery, a balcony - almost meteoric - above Argos and the Argolic plain, among beautiful flowers and tall cypress trees, the visitor can rest under the broad-leaved arbor.
In the eastern part of the crystal clear and flowery courtyard, which is lovingly cared for by the little brotherhood, after the approval of Archeology, in 1970 a small church was built, dedicated to Panagia Giatrissa, Agia Irini Chrysovalantou and Agia Maria in Egypt. This church was built mainly as an act of reverence and honor to the Virgin Mary (Theotokos) of the castle, which was built by the bishop of Argos Nikitas, in 1174.
The first mention of the existence of the church of Agia Marina in this place is made by the French clergyman Michel Fourmont, who together with his nephew Claude-Louis Fourmont, arrived in Argos in 1729. Michel Seve in his book "The French travelers in Argos "writes that Fourmont gave 20 deliveries" to the one who led us to the church of Agia Marina, where there are inscriptions ". The same author also informs us that the French traveler Dominique Papety also states: "The church of Agia Marina is deleted on the ridge of Larissa".
Anastasios Tsakopoulos writes that: “In the church there was a wall with letters. Indeed, a plaque (0.50x 0.30) was found behind the sanctuary, which they did not see during my visit years ago, because it was covered with the cursed lime. But my friend G. Theonas, thank you, to whom the commissioners have entrusted all the care and maintenance of the church, after an effort he managed to clean the plaque and bring to light the following: "In the year 1859- and below letters- I.X. » and thus the issue of the erection of the holy church of Agia Marini was resolved ". (Contributions to the History of the Apostolic Church of Argolis, issue ED Athens 1955, p.29).
Apparently the late teacher and author, considered as a date of construction in 1859 while it is probably a date of renovation of the church.
From Anastasios Tsakopoulos - again - we copy: "Agia Marina, as a chapel, through an act of the Municipal Council and through the" parish churches and property, etc. " of law 6/9 March 1910, he was subject to the church of Timios Prodromos, but as commissioner with the late M. Tsambasin (+ Aug. 1930) seeing beyond the financial, that the revenues did not correspond at all to the revenues, but also to another more seriously, knowing that this church was supervised and supervised by the shoemakers' guild many years ago, because of this, in our act in March 1913, despite the regrets and protests of some parishioners, we handed it over to the shoemakers ". (Contributions to the History of the Apostolic Church of Argolis, issue ED Athens 1955, p.25).
Indeed, Agia Marina was the patron saint of shoes. On the eve of the feast of -17 July - the shoemakers of Argos, with their first flag, with daoulias and pipis climbed to Agia Marina, followed by a large number of Argos pilgrims. After - with a sigh - they watched the evening, they started the party.
"With the famous giosse (boiled goat) and their wines they cured the bitterness and misery of their short life in the hot summer night." (Diana Antonakatou-Takis Mavros "Greek Monasteries. Peloponnese", volume A ').
On this day, they returned dressed in their festive clothes for the Divine Liturgy. When they finished, they went to Panagia Katakrymmeni, the orange grove, and lit a candle there as well. Some - those who had springs - went to the Mills and continued the party until late at night. There, under the shadows of the plane trees, they glorified God and their Saint, for the health and life they gave them.
Now, no shoe festival, no music and no songs. The feast of Agia Marina flows calmly, with reverent pilgrims, families with their children, ordinary people with sharp eyes.
The hospitality and love of the nuns - always willing to serve and care for the pilgrims - turned the small Monastery of Agia Marina into a spiritual hive of the city of Argos, where everyone can pray, in absolute peace and quiet, which they stop only the chirping of birds, which fall low on the branches of oregano, thyme and hyssop. Above all, however, he can feel the mental uplift that results from the sanctity of the place and the divine grace that covers this sacred hermitage.
The abbess of the monastery was Makaria Dimas and the nuns were Chrysostom, Christodoulis and Mariam. Blessed Elder Makaria Dimas served as Abbess from 2000 until her death on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. She lived a total of 72 years in solitary life.
