Wednesday Aug 21
  
  1. Basic Information
  2. Classification
  3. Identification
  4. Documentation
  5. Correlations
  6. Rights
  7. Resources

Church of Kosmosotira in Feres

Record Elements print all
Record ID CRID:2
Type of record Single Monument
Date of record 07-08-2012
Registrar Natasa Michailidou
Rights for record
Notes -


Main Monument Table
Monument type Immovable Monument
Monument Code CHURCH0001
Monument Name Church of Kosmosotira in Feres
Related Institution Holy Diocese of Alexandroupolis, Traianopolis and Samothrace
Location Name Feres Evros
Date of construction
1152 AD
Short Description In the center of Feres there is the Church of Our Lady Saviour of the World, the katholikon of the homonymous monastery, founded by sebastokrator Isaac Comnenus, son of Alexios I Komnenos. This is a wonderful monument of Byzantine architecture.
In 1151/52 Isaac Comnenus launches his monastic complex and writes its Typikon. It is a text-witness, thanks to which we know the operational status of the monastery's assets and the general formation of this Komnenian monastic institution. There are also wonderful Byzantine frescoes from the 12th century, among which 4 military saints stand out. These frescoes had been covered with plaster by the Turks when the church was converted into a mosque in 1357.
The presence of the inserted, in the wall, single-headed eagle has prompted some to argue that the church is home to the mausoleum and tomb of Isaac Comnenus, as stated in the Typikon of the Monastery and the tradition.
Experiencing the monastic ideal by the monks and the monastery's social contribution to the people of the region, as well as to the passing-bys, made the Monastery highly valued as a notab;e monastic center from which only the "Katholikon" and some ruins of the towers remained.
Isaac at his Typikon proclaimed the Monastery as "totally free, aftodespoti, idiodespoti" without being subject to any authority, either royal or patriarchal, but also without defining any trustee from his generation and his heirs. The monastery became a priory and the monks had to eat at the table all together the same food, drink the same wine, wear the same clothes and shoes, without any exception nor for the abbot. Only for the sick monks a special diet could be arranged.