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The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island
The story, in photographs, of the last caretaker of the ancient monastery on the remote, windswept Strofades islands—an architectural and historical treasure now in danger of destruction



The Strofades: two small, flat, windswept islands rising out of the Ionian Sea, known to the ancient Greeks as the home of the terrible Harpies, and to most modern Greeks simply unknown. On the larger of the two islets, Stamfani, stands a massive fortified monastery, founded as early as the thirteenth century, for centuries a refuge for honest seafarers and a target for pirates and Turkish raiders. In its heyday, this imposing compound was home to some forty farmer-monks, who kept the entire island under cultivation; by 1976, it was home to just one, Father Gregory Kladis (1937–2017), who alone tended the monastery until 2014. Today the monastery—badly damaged by an earthquake in 1997—lies empty and in danger of ruin.

This book is intended to tell the world about the Holy Monastery at Strofades, and encourage its preservation. At its core are the words of the last monk himself, Father Gregory, who guides the reader through his historic monastery—its chapels, refectory, mills, bakehouse, and living quarters—and the natural beauties of its island setting, as depicted in Robert McCabe’s superb photographs. The testimonies of the boatman who brought Father Gregory his supplies, as well as the lighthouse keeper who was once his only companion on the island, lend texture and context—as do essays on the history, geology, and architecture of the Strofades, and architectural drawings that reconstruct the monastery’s phases of construction.

Nobody who peruses this volume—the result of a yearslong collaboration between more than a dozen researchers and friends of the Strofades—will be able to forget the islands’ last monk, or be unmoved by the plight of his monastery.
1130139446
The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island
The story, in photographs, of the last caretaker of the ancient monastery on the remote, windswept Strofades islands—an architectural and historical treasure now in danger of destruction



The Strofades: two small, flat, windswept islands rising out of the Ionian Sea, known to the ancient Greeks as the home of the terrible Harpies, and to most modern Greeks simply unknown. On the larger of the two islets, Stamfani, stands a massive fortified monastery, founded as early as the thirteenth century, for centuries a refuge for honest seafarers and a target for pirates and Turkish raiders. In its heyday, this imposing compound was home to some forty farmer-monks, who kept the entire island under cultivation; by 1976, it was home to just one, Father Gregory Kladis (1937–2017), who alone tended the monastery until 2014. Today the monastery—badly damaged by an earthquake in 1997—lies empty and in danger of ruin.

This book is intended to tell the world about the Holy Monastery at Strofades, and encourage its preservation. At its core are the words of the last monk himself, Father Gregory, who guides the reader through his historic monastery—its chapels, refectory, mills, bakehouse, and living quarters—and the natural beauties of its island setting, as depicted in Robert McCabe’s superb photographs. The testimonies of the boatman who brought Father Gregory his supplies, as well as the lighthouse keeper who was once his only companion on the island, lend texture and context—as do essays on the history, geology, and architecture of the Strofades, and architectural drawings that reconstruct the monastery’s phases of construction.

Nobody who peruses this volume—the result of a yearslong collaboration between more than a dozen researchers and friends of the Strofades—will be able to forget the islands’ last monk, or be unmoved by the plight of his monastery.
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The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island

Overview

The story, in photographs, of the last caretaker of the ancient monastery on the remote, windswept Strofades islands—an architectural and historical treasure now in danger of destruction



The Strofades: two small, flat, windswept islands rising out of the Ionian Sea, known to the ancient Greeks as the home of the terrible Harpies, and to most modern Greeks simply unknown. On the larger of the two islets, Stamfani, stands a massive fortified monastery, founded as early as the thirteenth century, for centuries a refuge for honest seafarers and a target for pirates and Turkish raiders. In its heyday, this imposing compound was home to some forty farmer-monks, who kept the entire island under cultivation; by 1976, it was home to just one, Father Gregory Kladis (1937–2017), who alone tended the monastery until 2014. Today the monastery—badly damaged by an earthquake in 1997—lies empty and in danger of ruin.

This book is intended to tell the world about the Holy Monastery at Strofades, and encourage its preservation. At its core are the words of the last monk himself, Father Gregory, who guides the reader through his historic monastery—its chapels, refectory, mills, bakehouse, and living quarters—and the natural beauties of its island setting, as depicted in Robert McCabe’s superb photographs. The testimonies of the boatman who brought Father Gregory his supplies, as well as the lighthouse keeper who was once his only companion on the island, lend texture and context—as do essays on the history, geology, and architecture of the Strofades, and architectural drawings that reconstruct the monastery’s phases of construction.

Nobody who peruses this volume—the result of a yearslong collaboration between more than a dozen researchers and friends of the Strofades—will be able to forget the islands’ last monk, or be unmoved by the plight of his monastery.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780789213358
Publisher: Abbeville Publishing Group
Publication date: 09/03/2019
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert A. McCabe was born in Chicago in 1934. He started taking photographs in 1939 with a Kodak Brownie given to him by his father, who published a tabloid newspaper in New York. His work is featured in a permanent exhibition at the Greek consulate in Boston, MA. McCabe’s fifteen published photo books include the Abbeville titles Mykonos, Mycenae: From Myth to History, The Ramble in Central Park: A Wilderness West of Fifth, and Three Days in Havana.

Katerina Lymperopoulou has more than three decades of experience as a journalist for the leading newspapers in Greece. Her marriage to a native of Zakynthos has connected her closely with the Ionian islands and the Strofades.

Table of Contents

Photographs

Port 40

The monastery in general 48

The earthquake 70

The Monastery entrance 86

The courtyard 96

The church bell 110

Inside works 112

Outside works 124

The Refectory 128

St. George 136

The Tower 148

The narthex 156

The church inside the Tower 158

The wells 170

Outside: Palm trees 174

Outside: General layout 176

The lighthouse 192

Survey drawings 208

Reconstruction drawings 228

Texts

Preface 11

Contributors 13

The Strophades 17

The Strofades Monastery: History and outlook 21

Dramatis personae 26

The lay of the land 37

Strofades: A miracle in the middle of nowhere 47

The Holy Monastery of Strofades: A unique structure in the Orthodox World 69

Monasticism as military service. The Monastery's manuscripts 83

The Strofades Monastery: A historiographic omission 135

Restoration prospects: "In conversation" with the monument 147

Eighteen wells on a remote, little island: Where do the island springs originate from? 169

Endangered flora and fauna 173

The isolated keepers of a historic lighthouse 191

The Strofades Monastery: Architecture and construction history 203

Postscript 233

Acknowledgements 235

List of references and sources 237

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