Monastery of the Annunciation Patmos

The Annunciation Monastery, the largest convent on the island, is located in the south western part and has an exceptional view of the Kipi bay, since it was built on the edge of the cliff.

The convent began as a small chapel until 1613 when the abbot of the Saint John Nikifphoros Monastery built a hermitage there, dedicating it to St. Luke the Evangelist who healed him from a deadly disease. In 1937, Elder Amphilochios Makris transformed the hermitage into a monastery by adding new buildings and dedicated it to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mother.

The icons and murals of the monastery are dated between the 15th and 17th centuries. Nun Olympia, a student of the famous hagiographer Fotis Kontoglou, played an important role, as she painted a considerable number of icons of the monastery that will make you keep your nose up during your visit.

The monastery also had an important role to play during the Italian occupation, as the sisters, in their effort to maintain the Greek language, began to teach it to children to pass on the national language.

Today the monastery is inhabited only by nuns. Their main activity is the embroidery with the famous patmian stitch or also called spitha (spark), which is said to have been kept from the Byzantine era and used to make embroidery for aristocratic families from the time of Hosios Christodoulos. Other activities are gardening and beekeeping.

Visiting hours are very limited and clothing suitable for sacred places is mandatory.

We strongly recommend you pay a visit to this particular place, as well as being architecturally very interesting, the sense of peace walking through the gardens is priceless.