Παναγιά Κακαβιώτισσα

Panagia Kakaviotissa

Useful Information

Location:	Mirina 814 00, Lemnos, North Aegean. 4 km southeast of Myrina. From Myrina follow narrow road to the east (signposted) to the end. Official car park, 900 m/15 minutes hike across the hill. (39.865177, 25.107035)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Cave Church Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Panagia Kakaviotissa, Tel: +30-.
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History

1305	church was assigned to the monastery of the Great Lavra.

Description

Παναγιά Κακαβιώτισσα (Panagia Kakaviotissa) is a cave church, which as erected inside a huge cave which is located on top of a mountain. On the island Lemnos, Eastern Aegean, 4 km southeast of Myrina near the village of Thanos, lies Kakavos Mountain. Okay, mountain is an exaggeration, the limestone hill is rugged but only 260 m asl. The cave offers an impressive view to the sea and the mountainside of Lemnos. In the evening when the chapel is flooded by the light of the setting sun.

The cave has a huge portal and a single chamber. The rear part is separated by a drystone wall. The front part was used to build a two-room church. While it is rather common that cave churches have no ceiling, this one also has only half wall, in other words the walls of the front room are about 1 m high, the rear room 1.30 m. So it is possible to see the whole church from outside, and the sun shines in. It is sometimes called the "only church in the world without a roof", which is obviously nonsense. But it is the only church we know of with such low walls.

The cave was used for a long time, most likely there were hermits living here during the Byzantine period. From official documents we know that the cave was assigned to the monastery of Megisti Lavra on Mount Athos in 1305. It seems they allowed the monks from the monastery on nearby island Agios Efstratios, who had to flee from the Turkish invasion, to use the cave. They built the church and lived here. The name of the cave church is explained by the old legend.

Monks from the monastery Agios Efstratios sought refuge from the Turks, and they settled here, building a new church. But after some time the monks had died one by one, and the last one planned to return to Megisti Lavra on Mount Athos. He summoned a particularly devout local shepherd. He presented him a shrine, the icon of the Holy Theotokos Panagia Kakaviotissa or The Fadeless Flower. He asked the man to bring the icon to the church every year, on the Tuesday of Bright Week, which the sheperd promised. The monk went down to the sea, spread his vestments on the water and sailed on it to the shores of Athos.

Even after centuries the tradition is still alive. The icon of the Queen of Heaven is carefully preserved by the descendants of the Mumgzi family. Every year, on the first Tuesday after Greek Orthodox Easter, believers gather here, local residents and pilgrims arriving from all over the world. In front of the venerated icon the Divine Liturgy is celebrated.

Λήμνος (Lemnos or Limnos) is an island in the northern Aegean Sea. Most of the island is flat, only in the west is hill country, the highest peak in the northwest is Mount Skopia (430 m asl). The island is mainly of volcanic origin. The lava is covered by layers of Upper Eocene–Lower Oligocene molasse-type sediments which are deposited in a large NE–SW trending basin. The rocks are mostly not soluble, and so there is actually only a single cave, this one. Along the coast there are erosional sea caves though, two of them are worth mentioning, Σπηλιά του Φιλοκτήτη (Cave of Philoctetes) in the northeast and Σπηλιά της φώκιας (Seal's Cave).