The Holy Monastery

One of the oldest monasteries in the Peloponnese, the Agia Lavra (Greek: literally "Holy Monastery") was built in 961. It is on Chelmos (also Helmos) Mountain, 961 meters above sea level. Chelmos is also home to the mountain village of Kalavryta.

Kalavryta was the seat of the Barony of Kalavryta in the later Middle Ages (established c.1209), of which very little is known except through some Venetian records and the 14th century Chronicle of Morea, a Greek poem of 9000 Lins that narrates the Western European conquest of Morea (the Peloponnese) because of the shameful actions of the Fourth Crusade.

The monastery was destroyed more than once in the post-Medieval period, by Turks in 1585, by the Egyptian army of Ibrahim Pasha in 1826, and in 1943 by German troops. It survives, however, and has a museum as well as an opportunity for monastic living. The monastery celebrates the Dormition of Mary on 15 August.

The museum has many items, including an 11th-century Gospel, gold-embroidered vestments from the 1500s, patriarchal seals, and saints' relics, including part of the skull of St. Alexius. You can read about St. Alexius here and here. He was a wealthy Roman citizen in the 4th century who gave up everything to live as a hermit, presumably in Greece. Alexius is considered the patron saint of the town of Kalavryta.

The part of Alexius' skull at the monastery was given to them in 1398 by Manuel II Paleologos, Byzantine Emperor from 1391 to 1425. Where he got it, since Alexius returned to Rome and died there many years later, no one can tell. Manuel offered many relics to different groups during his long reign. I think we should look into some goings on in Constantinople next.