The Church of the Dormition of the Virgin is a central pilgrimage located in the mountainous Agiasos because of the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary which is treasured there and its history begins in the years of the iconoclasm.
In the 8th century the monk Agathon came to the area, given that in Lesvos the climate of iconoclasm began to disappear. Coming from Jerusalem, he carried relics among which the icon of the Virgin Mary. Much later after his death, in 1170, a magnificent temple was founded where the monk’s followers carried the icon, the relics of the monk Agathon, a piece of the Holy Wood and other respects. Thus, the monastery of Panagia was founded, which was to become the parish church of the settlement that began to be created around the monastic community after the conquest of Lesbos by the Ottomans. Thus, the settlement took the name that was written on the icon of the Virgin Mary (Agia Sion, hence Agiasos).
In 1783 the monastery didn’t continue to work, the church remained the church of the settlement and its administration fell into the hands of lay commissioners. In 1806 the temple was demolished and a new larger one was erected in its place. During the construction work of the woodcarvers, a large fire consumed a large part of the village and caused damage to the project. In 1815, the rebuilding effort continued under the contract of the journeyman Hatzielebertiou from Agra.
This is how the present form of the church came about, which is a three-aisled basilica of enormous dimensions (32.20 m long and 26.20 m wide). The external form is typical of lesbian basilicas. The roof is four-pitched with sections on the east and west sides, while the narthex is enclosed by a colonnade. The holy step three niches, each of which carries a holy Table.
During the construction of the altarpiece, it was considered low and a wooden part was added, which was crafted in the style of marble, in the same designs and colors, so that the difference between the two materials could not be distinguished. The temple is full of remarkable portable icons dating from the 10th to the 19th century.
In the courtyard there is a church museum rich in exhibits, where portable icons, manuscripts, old books, gold-embroidered vestments, works of ecclesiastical metalwork and other valuable objects are exhibited. The most important exhibits are considered to be a small cross of blessing, which the monk Agathon had brought from Jerusalem, an embroidered epitaph of the Virgin Mary, a Constantinople creation of 1812 and an Epitaph canopy with historical representations from the Passion of the Lord and the life of the Virgin.
The church celebrates the Fifteenth of August, when a crowd of believers flocks to Agiasos from all parts of the island on foot to embrace the icon of the Virgin Mary, as well as on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as the church keeps a piece of Holy Wood, a legacy of the monk Agathonos .
