Chapel of Agia Kori
The chapel of Agia Kori ( Greek Αγία Κόρη "holy girl") is located on a stream in a gorge on the northeastern edge of the Olympus mountains .
location
Four kilometers southwest of the village of Vrondou and around 14 kilometers southwest of the district town of Katerini . The chapel can only be reached on foot via a staircase (around 170 steps) that leads down into the gorge.
The legend
The holy girl came from the Zagorochoria, the remote villages in the area of Ioannina . The story began between 1790 and 1810, during the Ottoman rule under Ali Pasha . He fell in love with her and wanted to bring her to his harem. Since she was a devout Christian and she would have had to convert to the Muslim faith in the event of a wedding, a connection with a Muslim was out of the question for her. The future groom decided to have his future wife forcibly removed from her parents' home by soldiers. A soldier warned the girl and she fled to Mount Olympus in the village of Vrondou. She never gave her name to anyone, fearing that her captors might find out where she was going. She lived in the village for a few months before the local commander noticed her. He reported his discovery to Ioannina and soldiers were sent to fetch them.
She found out about it in time and climbed into a ravine near the village. Her persecutors were told that she had fallen, after which they returned to Ioannina. Fearing new discovery, she stayed in the gorge and lived there in a small cave. Occasionally shepherds let her down with some bread and cheese, otherwise she had to be content with what nature offered her. She lived there for some time until one day there was no more sign of life from her. Later, lumberjacks descended into the gorge and found an intact skeleton hugging an icon. They remembered the girl who was hiding here and decided that it must be her skeleton. When they were digging a grave to bury their remains, a spring emerged from this place. The lumberjacks built a small chapel on her grave, which they decorated with the icon that the girl had embraced until the end. In place of today's bridge, two tree trunks led across the stream. As the belief in the girl's miraculous healings became stronger in the population and many miracles were ascribed to her, the number of believers who sought her help grew.
Today's meaning
The water of the spring is considered holy, it is said to have healing properties. The water is both drunk and used for washing. Believers who seek healing for a sick girl make a pilgrimage to the chapel. They pray for the healing of the sick and tie textiles or jewelry worn by the girl to the bushes near the chapel.
Agia Kori is not an official saint of the Greek Orthodox Church .
Web links
- Agia Kori (Αγία Κόρη, in Greek). Retrieved March 5, 2018 .
- Agia Kori, the Wonderworker of Olympus (in English). Retrieved March 5, 2018 .
- Local saint Pierias, Τοπικοί Άγιοι της Πιερίας / Αγία Κόρη η εν Ολύμπω (in Greek). Retrieved March 5, 2018 .
Coordinates: 40 ° 9 ′ 46 ″ N , 22 ° 24 ′ 34 ″ E