Friday, April 1, 2011

Panagia Ekatontapiliani "Church of 100 Doors"




In Parikia, where I'm living there is an ancient church that I pass almost everyday on my way to school. It dates back to 326 AD and is called the "Church of 100 Doors." It is founded by Saint Helen, and as the story goes, as told by a local, she had a dream that the holy cross was in Turkey. She said if she found it she would come back to Paros and build a great temple. She had said she found it and sent her son back to Greece to build the temple with 100 doors. Only 99 doors have been found in the chapel/temple and it is said that when the 100th door is found it will be the coming of Christ again. Yannakos, a friend of the school and a local here said that nobody looks for the 100th door and if we do and we find it, we shouldn't tell anyone!
Another interesting story that Yannakos told us about the church has to do with the creation of it. The man who built it was a student of a famous architect [I can't remember who], and when he had finished building it he called for his teacher to come look at it. The teacher thought it was magnificent but he became jealous because his student did so well. So, he told his student that he saw a flaw in one of the windows at the top of the church and he took him up there and tried to push him out the window. The student grabbed his teacher and both fell to their death.
There are so many interesting stories about this island!
I finally went to the church yesterday and took some pictures. It's beautiful!

1 comment:

  1. Nice post!
    Are you still here on Paros? My wife and I have been here since June 30 and plan to stay through September.
    I'd love to meet you and trade stories!
    steve@zografis.com
    Steve

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