Just outside the mountainous village of western Lesvos, Antissa, on top of the mountain “Halakas” is the old abandoned male monastery of Taxiarches, known as H.M. Kreokopou. The site is full of beauty and remarkable geological significance.
Regarding the name of the monastery, some argue that the first founder practiced the profession of a butcher (butcher), others relate it to the Archangel Michael, who takes souls with the terrible sword. The prevailing version, however, is related to the old name “Kreon” of the mountain near the monastery, which required great effort to climb. The Metropolitan Gabriel of Mytilene in his work “Description of Lesvos” calls the monastery “Kryokopo” and mentions that there were springs that emitted cold water even in the summer months.
The monastery was probably founded before the 15th century. It was a rich and populous Byzantine monastery with great wealth and had as many as 30 monks. The monastery’s catholicon, dedicated to the Synaxis of the Supreme Commanders Michael and Gabriel, was built in 1605 and inaugurated on August 20. With the occupation of the island by the Turks, the numerous lootings, economic and not only pressure, the bottomless greed of monks and the mismanagement during the years of slavery became reasons for the dissolution of the monastic property. The intense seismic activity in the villages of the area caused great damage to the monastery of Kreokopou.
In 1798, in the midst of slavery and the pressure of Turkish power, the Kreokopou monastery had reached absolute poverty. Monks went so far as to sell holy relics to survive or leave the monastery due to poverty. It is worth mentioning that they sold the hand of Ag. Makrinas in H. M. Ypsilou. That is why Patriarch Gregory V assigned his stewardship to H.M. Limonos, despite which it was not able to recover, so at the beginning of the 19th century it was abandoned, extinguished and ransacked. Over time everything crumbled and the stones were scattered. The icons of the catholicon were transferred to Antissa and today adorn the small church of H.C. Saint John the Theologian.
Fortunately, since 1990, the residents of the neighboring village of Antissa have started efforts to rebuild the destroyed monastery. Thus, a church dedicated to the Taxiarches was built again in the place where the catholicon and the buildings of the monastery used to be, and with the efforts of the villagers, the new renovated monastery began to take shape again. The locals visit the idyllic landscape and every year on the first Saturday of June they celebrate Taxiarchis of Kreokopo.
