The Ascension Holy Monastery stands at 7 km from the village of
Proti,
at an altitude of 930 m on
Pangeo
Mountain, offering a panoramic view over the valley of
Serres.
Former metochi (dependency) of the
Holy
Monastery of Blessed Virgin Mary Ikosifinissa, it was reestablished in 1979
at the same location where in the 18th century stood the monks’ Monastery
of the same name.
The Monastery contributed a lot to the Christians of the region and
that resulted in repeated devastation by the Turk and the Bulgarian invaders,
the most severe having occurred in the years 1913, 1917 and 1944.
The Katholikon (main church) of the Monastery is a rare cruciform
Rotunda built according to the form of the Holy Ascension Monastery situated at
the Mount of Olives in the Holy Land. The Monastery preserves the holy relics
of the Saints I. Chrisostomos, Arsenios the Capadokos etc.
In the Monastery there is a guest house operating exclusively for
groups of tourists. Today (1997) the Monastery houses 20 Nuns occupied with hagiography,
sacerdotal needlecraft, gold embroidered pieces, pyrography and ceroplasty.
The feast day of the Monastery is the day of the Ascension, 40 days
after Easter.
This text (extract) is cited September 2003 from the Prefecture
of Serres tourist pamphlet.
