Monastery of St. John the Baptist ,Makrinos (Αλεποχώρι)

Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Makrinos, Greece



According to tradition, during the Iconoclasm, two persecuted monks from Constantinople were looking for a suitable place to build a new monastery. Having with them some relics of the Holy Forerunner, as well as a miraculous image of him, they arrived at the site of today's Monastery and immediately set about building the first necessary buildings. As they built, they realized that they were in danger from the pirates who had landed in the area. Then the monks, in order to avoid the danger, fled, after hiding the holy relics and the icon on the hill, southeast of the Monastery and it is called by the Megarian people, until today "Evresis". Years later, a villager, as he was grazing his flock on the outskirts of the monastery, noticed that a sheep was being cut off from the flock and was running persistently on the top of the hill of the discovery.



At night again the shepherd saw a paradoxical light in the same place. This was repeated several times and then he searched the area and found the hidden holy relics and the icon of St. John the Baptist. This miracle became the reason for the founding of the Monastery.