St. Panteleimon is mentioned in the ottoman census of 1569/70 as one of the eight existing monasteries of the district of Agia. In the same register one can find information about the large land property it possessed. These elements conform with the architectonic features of the catholicon, along with the inscriptions of 1568 and 1579, mentioning the roof and referring to the completion of the building. At the same date, 1579, the iconostasis of the church has been constructed, while the initial paintings can also be placed at the same period. Some years later the small tower chapel has been decorated. This phase is completed by the murals of the refectory, executed in 1616.
At the end of the 16th century an inflation crisis has affected the ottoman economy, due to which many monasteries faced economic difficulties. This must be the cause why the decoration of the church remained incomplete.
From the beginning of the 18th century, the monastery enters a renovating period, as shown by the execution of new icons for the iconostasis (1711) and the large program of painting covering the whole church, including the narthex (1724). In this period a new name is attributed to the monastery, that of the Virgin Kladiotissa, maybe from a certain icon decorated with branches. The icon of the Presentation of the Virgin is relevant to this name, surrounded by flowery stems and crowned by an image of Virgin as Bush. In 1778, when the Swedish traveler Bjornstal passed from the region, he learned from 4-5 monks about the erection of the church at the period of the emperor Andronikos Palaiologos. This information can be combined with the year 1292, mentioned by an old scholar of Agia, Theodoros Hatzimichalis, as well as with the results of the dendrochronological investigations made in the church and the archaeological vestiges, including late byzantine walls found in the yard and tower research.
In conclusion, the initial phase of the monastery can be placed in the late byzantine period, when the Kissavos area was known as the Mountain of Cells, because of the great number of monasteries and hermitages. After its re-foundation in 16th century, when the adoration of St. Panteleimon was added, the monastery prospered until the 19th century. It was diluted in 1881, like all monasteries of the region, submitted severe damage because of desolation, and finally it was again occupied in the decade of 1980, when the western section has been rebuilt.
From 1993 and for twelve years the Monastery remained closed. In 2005, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Dimitriados, Mr. Ignatius, two fathers settled in with Archimandrite Emilianos Kazatzidis as abbot, and renovation work began (maintenance of the catholicon, frescoes, altarpiece, portable icons, tower maintenance, drawing up a study of the southeast wing, etc.) and the new brotherhood was formed. Which consists of nine fathers and two probationers. After the death of Father Emilianos in 2021, the new abbot is Archimandrite Nikodimos Agathonikou.
The catholicon and its decoration in 16th century
The existing building is a church of dimensions 9.8x8m., belonging to the crucified triconchos type, named athonite. The central space is covered by an eight sided dome and the corner spaces with hemispherical vaults. Two of the marble columns bear sculptured capitals from the middle- byzantine period. The holy bema is divided by continuous walls in three parts, communicating by arched openings. The main bema is covered by a barrel vault and the lateral ones by small domes, while the narthex also is a tripartite vaulted space.
The church is well built with alternated courses of stone and brick. The main dome is an elaborate construction with three-brick courses, while the lateral domes are made exclusively of bricks. The domes and the conches bear apses, decorated by brick made zig-zag pattern. In the center of the apses bilobe windows are opened, from which the northern ones have been blocked during the 1724 phase in order to protect the building from humidity. The same happened in the northern windows of the domes.
The curved roofing of the oblong wings of the cross and the vaulted lateral spaces of the bema consist the main architectural features of the church connecting it with the byzantine tradition, especially of Constantinople. The elegant shape, the accuracy of the accomplishment and its early chronology make it one of the most exceptional buildings of the athonite type of this age and connect it with an active brotherhood and important donors. The benefactor Ioannis, son of Kostis, mentioned in the inscriptions of the iconostasis of St.Panteleimon and the church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Polydendri, between 1580-1590, must have been a distinguished person of the Agia society. This is concluded from the exceptional quality of the artistic work, due to his collaboration with renamed artists of the period. Moreover, the execution of plenty of works in the monastery of St.Panteleimon towards the end of the century, including the iconostasis, the first murals, the decoration of the tower and the refectory, accomplished in 1616, proves the prosperity of the monastery during this period. Apart from the two scenes of the initial decoration, always visible, the Presentation and the enthroned Virgin, more parts from it were found during the restoration in the areas of the dome and the bema. It is possible that the decoration did not proceed beyond these surfaces.
The tower and the refectory
These buildings belong to the first period of the monastery. The two-storeyed abbot's tower includes a small chapel in the upper part, painted at the end of the 16th century, while an iconostasis from this phase also existed, nowadays destroyed. The murals include a few scenes, as the Descend to Hell, the Incredibility of Thomas and the Melismos among bishops, while some figures also exist, as the Vision of Peter of Alexandria, Ionas in the mouth of the shark and St. Nikolaos. In these paintings the art of a skillful artist of this epoch can be traced, in contact with the art of Western Macedonia and belonging to a workshop with a certain activity in this period, which created, among others, the paintings of the first phase of St.Paraskevi in Agia and the ones in the catholicon of St. Prodromos monastery in Anatoli.
The refectory also bears painted decoration and preserves the inscription of 1616.
The iconostasis of church
It belongs to the separate category of painted iconostasis, which are dated before the wood-carved ones, from the end of the 16th century. Its main difference from other contemporary iconostasis is the added zone with curved finishing and painted decoration, which covers the upper part of the main icons and is connected with the symbolism of the Virgin as Tabernacle, mentioned in the liturgy of the Presentation Feast. Apart from the Christ and Virgin icons, belonging to the initial phase, more icons exist, namely the Presentation, St. John the Forerunner, the Gathering of the Archangels, the icon of the Apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the door of the Bema, all belong- ing to the 18th century. The epistylion has special features, as, along with the Great Deisis, there exist the figures of the local bishops of Larissa Achillios and Bessarion, the one of the deacon Stephanos and also St. Antonios, who was highy estimated in Agia.
The iconostasis was offered by Ioannis, son of Kostis, in November the 14th of 1579, evidently in order to be inaugurated in the celebration of the church in 21th of November. Its special typology was widely spread in Agia during that period and can be seen in eight iconostasis of the region, an indication of the great impact of the monastery of Panteleimon. The most important among them is the one from the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin in Polydendri, which was offered by the same donor. The painter of the icons of the initial phase, who show artistic trends from Northern Greece, is unknown, on the contrary, the icons of the second phase are signed by the painter Georgios from Klitzo in Agrapha region in 1711.
The painted decoration of 1724
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A rich iconographic program is arrayed in the spacious interior and the complex vaulted structures of the church. Its main ideas are inspired by the byzantine cross- inscribed plan, as it was shaped in the large athonite churches of the 16th century. The barrel vaults contain the Christological cycle, which begins at the south eastern corner, following a part of the Virgin cycle in the Bema. Afterwards, it continues westwards and the Passion scenes are placed in the western barrel vault, the Post Ressurection scenes in the northern one, while the cycle ends in the Holy Bema with the Ascension and the Pentekost. In the southern vault the Christological cycle is interrupted by the large scene of the Ainoi.
Separate sections of the program are situated in the corner spaces, that is part of the Life of the Christ, of John Prodromos, the Archangels and Saint Panteleimon, while in Prothesis and Diakonikon the miracles of Christ surround the depictions of Christ as Emmanouel and Angel of the Great Counsil. The painting of the walls consists of four zones, comprising standing saints in the inferior and miracles of saints along with the Akathistos Hymn upwards, ending with Christo- logical scenes in the vaults. The martyrdom scenes are organized in accordance with the standing saints, so that the majority of them are connected to these saints. Among them, the martyrdoms of the apostles, the military saints and the most renamed monks are included, as usually in the large churches of this type.
The originality of this decoration is represented in the depictions of the lateral apses, where the Samaritaine woman and the Psalms are illustrated, in order to promote the acts of Christ as Creator and Minister. The Psalms 148-50, with the extended representation of the Creation as a whole, as well as the depiction of the Hymn For You Rejoice, in honor of the Virgin, in the south apse, are the most outstanding features of this decoration.
The program of the bema is equally rich, with the dominant figures of the Virgin in the apse and the sacrificial themes in the lateral conches. Christ is portrayed twice in the main apse, in both the Communion of the Apostles and the Angelic Liturgy, while he also dominates in the decoration of the Prothesis and the Diakonikon. These are crowned with prophetic visions (Christ as Emmanouiel and Angel of the Great Council).
In the program of the narthex a large depiction of the Second Coming of Christ is included, as well as scenes of the Crisis Gospel (Mathew, chapter 25), where Christ appears as beggar and miserable, in order to underline the ideas of love and charity. In the surrounding surfaces more Ministry scenes are arrayed, as the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Parable of the Lost Man's Son, followed by monk saints.
The painter Gabriel is known from two works in Peloponnesos, according to M. Chatzidakis, namely the church of Dormition of the Virgin in Pournari of Gortynia (1715) and the chapel of the Holy Trinity in the Monastery Aimialon (1715-16). In these a small part of the decoration has been preserved, from which one cannot estimate the work of the painter. In the St. Panteleimon monastery, on the contrary, a complete pro- gram has survived, which shows good knowledge of both the iconographic tradition and the art of painting, while permits the supposition of the existence of collaborator painters and educated monks in the formation of the program. It is indicative, in this sense, the men- tion of members of the church council of Agia in the donative inscription, apart from Iakovos, the bishop of Demetrios. The mentioned persons are two priests of Agia, John who had the title of oikonomos, the sakellarios Stergios, as well as four from the laity, Argiris, Chatzidimitris, Theocharis and Panagi- otis Pikropoulos, while the cost was undertaken by the parish of Agia.
The painter Gabriel creates characteristic tall and slender figures, ascetic faces, while giving a special movement in the clothes of the saints, particularly in the standing figures. His style of painting is influenced by the art of his native region, Peloponnesos, meanwhile some iconographic trends from cretan icons are noticeable, as seen in the depiction of the hymn For You Rejoice and other parts of decoration.His work doesn't seem to have exerted influence in other artists in Thessaly, but one can mention his presence in another decoration in Agia, the one of the church of Christ.
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