Σπήλαιο Αρχάγγελου Μιχαήλ Πανορμίτη

Cave Archangel Michael Panormitis

Useful Information

Location:	Ialisou 3, Kritika 851 00, Rhodes. (36.4457414, 28.2112443)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Cave Church
Light:	n/a, candles
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Cave Archangel Michael Panormitis, Ialisou 3, Kritika 851 00, Rhodes, Tel: +30-.
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History

Description

Σπήλαιο Αρχάγγελου Μιχαήλ Πανορμίτη (Cave of Archangel Michael Panormitis) is located on the island Rhodes in the city Rhodes, which is the capital of the Dodecanese Islands. In greek there is also another name of the site, which is Σπήλαιο Ταξιάρχη Μιχαήλ Πανορμίτη (Spílaio Taxiárchi Michaíl Panormíti) where the Taxiárchi translates Brigadier General or Commander. He is considered the commander of the heavenly forces, aka the other angels. And the Panormitis part is derived from the village Panormitis on Symi island where the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Taxiarchis Mihail Panormitis is located.

The tunnel is a cave church, Greek Orthodox, with all the typical items, mostly icons, but also a crucifix, places for candles, and the possibility to leave notes with prayers, wishes or intentions. The location is rather strange, at the bottom of a cliff which seems artificial, only a few meters above the sea, and only 20 m from the sea. The tunnel runs parallel to the coastline. It is rather long and narrow, which is not exactly a good shape for a church, so it was probably dug for another purpose, but it is not known for what.

One day, on the feast of the Archangel Michael, a man was walking along the sea when he saw a wooden box floating in the sea. He was able to retrieve it and found the icon of the Archangel Michael of Panormitis with two small oil bottles. He had the idea to make a shrine with an oil lamp in a shallow shelter at the cliff. But when he lit the lamp, the icon was missing. In his surprise, he dropped something, and it disappeared among the stones on the ground. So he dug around a bit to find it again and discovered the cave. This is where he also found the missing icon. So he made the shrine inside the cave, and he was the caretaker for the cave and placed icons and lamps inside. A woman built the stairs from the road to the cave for easier access.

The tunnel is more or less a wild place of worship, it is not an official church, it is not consecrated. Anything which can be seen is the result of a vow offering of a citizen. They even have a sign that nobody should leave money, there is obviously no church which collects the money. And actually, the whole story seems a copy of the legends around the monastery on nearby island of Symi. There are in total four holy icons of Saint Michael on the Dodecanese islands and the stories are always similar.

The island is at its core of volcanic origin, but the northern part is covered by Quaternary sediments, sandstone, breccia and conglomerate. The rock is rather soft due to incomplete diagenesis, and there are deposits of tufa, a result of limestone rich springs in the sedimentary rock. The proper name is "cave", nevertheless, the tunnel is most likely artificial. The rock here is sandstone and a kind of conglomerate of small pebbles. This kind of rock in general does not have natural caves, also the tunnel is straight, has rather flat walls, a barrel vault. The rock has some natural caves nearby, erosional caves mostly created by the waves, those sea caves form small shelters. If such a shelter was the origin of this cave church, it is long destroyed and no traces are left. The age of the tunnel is impossible to determine, if the legend is true that it was rediscovered under gravel, it must have been abandoned for centuries, probably from antiquity.