Moscow, February 10, 2017
A serious fire broke out two weeks ago at one of Greece’s oldest monasteries. The monastery of Varnakova, fifteen miles to the east of Nafpaktos, just north of Corinthian Gulf coast, was built in 1077 by St. Arsenios Varnakovitis, on a small hill which lies within a vast forest of oaks and wild chestnuts.
The fire broke out in the boiler room and quickly spread throughout the entire monastery, reports Greece Today. Eleven fire trucks showed up to quickly extinguish the fire, but not before it caused considerable damage, including to the monastery’s archives.
Thankfully, all the brothers managed to evacuate the monastery and saved their miraculous icon of the Theotokos.
The monastery is dedicated to the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and after its founding in the eleventh century quickly became a center of Orthodoxy in the region.