The Monastery of the Holy Virgin at Lamia lies just a few km away from Dilinata village on an impressive hill with amazing views of the village as well as the gulf of Argostoli and the sea. It is worth a stop as the location has a special atmosphere and the church and the views are worth checking out.
On this site, in 1960, there was a small ruined church of the birth of Virgin Mary. In 1727 George Vegia built the church and founded the monastery with a few monks and kept the right for him, and his descendants, to appoint the Abbot of the Monastery. In 1905 the Monastery was ruined by fire and then reconstructed. Today the church possesses a silver embossed icon of the Holy Virgin that is considered miraculous.
The name Lamia derives from the deities of the ancestry called “Lamies” that are haunting lakes, beaches and wells. There are several wells at the bottom of the cliff that the church stands on. The German Geographer Joseph Partsch mentions that the wells are built with megaliths of the Mycenaean era.
The church is of a classical Basilika Heptanician type with pediment roof and on the ridge of the hill there is a an ancient cemetery where you can still see a grave that the locals name “stonechest” (πετροκασέλα) engraved into the rock.
On the 8th of September an icon procession takes place from Lamia to St John the Baptist church in the center of the village of Dilinata (dating to the 16th century). Here you can admire the wood-carved iconostasis, unique frescoes and icons of the 18th century. The icons remains at the church until the 14th of the same month when it is returned back to Lamia.
