29 August 2014

Walking through the ruins of the Minoan
palace at Phaistos in the late evening

Walking through the palatial Minoan ruins at Phaistos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

At the end of this week’s long visit to the Monastery of Preveli and three beaches on the south coast of Crete, the evening came to a close with visits to the archaeological site at Phaistos (Φαιστός) and the attractive mountain village of Spili.

The Bronze Age archaeological site at Phaistos, about 5 or 6 km inland, was first identified in 1853 by a British naval commander, Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt (1811-1888), during his Mediterranean Survey in 1853.

Spratt was guided by his reading of the classical Greek historian, Strabo, who had written: “Of the three cities that were united under one metropolis by Minos, the third, which was Phaestus, was razed to the ground by the Gortynians; it is sixty stadia distant from Gortyn, twenty from the sea, and forty from the seaport Matalum; and the country is held by those who razed it.”

The city of Phaistos is associated with Rhadamanthys, a mythical king of Crete. It is first mentioned by Homer, who said it was “well populated” and took part in the Trojan War.

The historian Diodorus Siculus says that Phaistos, Knossos and Kydona are the three main towns founded by King Minos on Crete. However, Pausanias and Stephanus of Byzantium said Phaistos was founded by Phaestos, the son of Hercules or Ropalus.

When Spratt first arrived at the tiny village of Kastri, the village and 16 houses stood on the ridge. But he instinctively knew that there was something greater was there and he realised the remains of fortification walls he could see indicated the site of the ancient city named by Strabo.

However, it was another half century before the Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr (1857-1930) was able to remove the houses that were on the site and begin to discover the remains of the extensive Minoan palace complex.

Halbherr began his work at Phaistos in 1900, even before Arthur Evans began his explorations at Knossos in 1900. However, Halbherr did not have the same great knowledge Evans had of Minoan civilisation. Nor did he know about the important insights acquired by Michael Ventris through the decipherment of the Linear B.

Halbherr’s excavations at Phaistos came to an end in 1904, but by the time the dig resumed in 1950 archaeologists understood more about the palace and its foundation.

The Phaistos Disc was discovered by Luigi Pernier in 1908

In the intervening years, some exciting discoveries were made at the site. The most important find was in 1908, when the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier (1874-1937) found what we now know as the Phaistos Disc at the basements of the northern group of the palace. This is a clay disk, dated some time between 1950 BC and 1400 BC, and stamped with a unique sophisticated hieroglyphic script. The tombs of the rulers of Phaistos were found in the cemetery that was discovered 20 minutes away from the palace remains.

From 1955 on, the place name Phaistos began to turn up in the Linear B tablets at Knossos dating from Mycenaean Greece, and archaeologists now had every reason to believe that Phaistos was indeed located at Kastri.

Although no Linear B has been found at Phaistos, both tradition and the Knossos tablets suggest that Phaistos was a dependency of Knossos. Moreover, only a few pieces of Linear A have been found. As Phaistos appears to have been an administrative centre, it is all the more puzzling that no records have been found to date.

We now know, though, that Phaistos was inhabited from about 4000 BC. A palace, dating from the Middle Bronze Age, was destroyed by an earthquake during the Late Bronze Age, at the same time as Knossos and other Minoan sites in Crete were destroyed. The palace at Phaistos was rebuilt towards the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Three successive palaces were built at Phaistos(Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

The first palace at Phaistos was built about 2000 BC. This section is on a lower level than the west courtyard and has a nice facade with a plastic outer shape, a cobbled courtyard, and a tower ledge with a ramp that leads up to a higher level.

The old palace was destroyed three times over a period of about three centuries. After the first and second disasters, the palace was repaired and rebuilt.

Around 1400 BC, Phaistos and Knossos were both destroyed by the invading Achaeans, and it appears the palace at Phaistos was never used after that because no evidence of the Mycenaean era had been found uncovered at the site.

Several artefacts with Linear A inscriptions have been found at Phaistos, as well as sub-surface pits, pottery from in the Middle and Late Minoan periods, and Bronze Age works.

The three palaces at Phaistos date from Early, Middle and Late Minoan ages. The older palace looks like a smaller version of the Minoan palace at Knossos. It was destroyed by an earthquake ca 1600 BC, and on its ruins was built a bigger and more magnificent palace with several rooms separated by columns.

Visitors can see the theatre area and the two splendid staircases that led to the main hall of the Propylaea. A twin gate led directly to the central courtyard through a wide street. There were splendidly decorated rooms, spacious ceremonial rooms, and a central courtyard leading to the royal apartments, which had views to the top of Mount Psiloritis.

Phaistos had its own currency and the city formed an alliance with other autonomous Cretan cities, and with the city of Pergamum. It was finally destroyed by the Gortynians at the end of the third century BC, and Phaestos then disappears from history.

We left Phaestos late in the evening, and on our way back to Rethymnon stopped in Spili (Σπήλι), a charming mountain, where we drank from the row of Venetian lion-head fountains in the main square. It was another 40 minute drive back to Rethymnon.

Evening sunshine in the countryside near Phaistos and Spili (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Finding peace in Previli monastery
after years of rebellions and wars

Monastic bells in a tree in the courtyard of Preveli Monastery on the south coast of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

During the long expedition to the south coast of Crete earlier this week, it was good to spend some time in Preveli, visiting the monastery that is famous for its role in struggles against both the Turks and the Germans in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The monastery is celebrated in Greek lore and in books and movies for its part in helping allied soldiers escape Crete in World War II. With all the tales of bravado, daring-do and great escapes, it is easy for tourists and visitors to forget that this is also a holy place.

Preveli is 37 km south of Rethymnion, where I am staying, and while the monastery lies is within the Diocese of Lambis and Sfakion, it comes under the direct oversight of the Ecumenical Patriarch, making it the Holy Stavropegic and Patriarchal Monastery of Saint John the Theologian.

In fact, the Monastery of Preveli is not one but two monasteries, with two sets of buildings. The ruined Lower Monastery (Kato Moni) is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, but is now deserted. This part of the monastery is fenced off and closed to visitors. It was another 3 km or so to the second living, active monastery, known as the Upper or Rear Monastery (Piso Moni) and dedicated to Saint John the Theologian.

There is strong evidence that an early monastery stood on the site of the lower monastery during the Second Byzantine period in Crete, in the 10th or early 11th century. But the monastery was probably founded in the Middle Ages, when Crete was under Venetian rule.

Documents show the original name of Preveli was “The Monastery of the Great River at the Island of Crete.” The present name is explained in different stories about who founded Preveli. Some say it was founded by a feudal lord named Prevelis. Others say it is named after a repentant murderer who fled his home in Preveliana village in the 16th century, found refuge in the monastery and gave his life savings in thanks for his life being saved. Another tradition says Preveli takes its name from Abbot Akakios Prevelis, who renovated the monastery in 1670.

Indeed, at least three or four of the abbots in the 17th and 18th century were from the Prevelis family, a family from Rethymnon descended from the Kallergis, a Byzantine noble family.

The earliest records for the monastery go back to 1594, a date engraved on a monastery bell. When the Turks occupied Crete in 1649, they destroyed many churches and church buildings, including the monastery of Preveli. But the monastery survived and was restored, and in the centuries that followed became a centre for education and a centre for resistance to Ottoman rule.

In 1770, Abbot Efraim Prevelis took part in the revolution led by John Vlachos or Daskalogianis. He was convicted for the assassination of a Janissary, Gioussef Fassaros, and was sentenced to death by the Turks. He was finally pardoned in 1798 after Patriarch Gregory V intervened with the Sulktan in Istanbul.

To secure the monastery’s privileges and estates, Abbot Ephrem sought the protection of the Patriarchate, and Preveli was given the status of a patriarchal and stavropegic monastery. As a sign of this new status, he returned from Constantinople with the Cross that has remained the most prized relic in Preveli.

A plaque commemorating Abbot Melchisedek Tsouderos in the courtyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

In 1821, the Abbot of Preveli, Melchisedek Tsouderos – whose family was from Rethymnon and who were said to be descended from the Byzantine imperial family – became a member of the secret Greek revolutionary organisation, the Philiki Etairia (the Society of Friends).

On 25 May 1821, the abbot and a group of rebels hoisted the Greek flag on the hills overlooking the village of Rodakino, and he soon became the leading figure in the revolutionary events of 1821 in Crete.

The abbot organised, equipped and financed the first rebel units against the Turkish forces, and managed to rescue the monks before the Turks destroyed the monastery in a reprisal attack.

Abbot Melchisedek’s force, made up of monks and civilians, went on to fight in many battles in western Crete. He was fatally injured in a battle near the village of Polemarchi in the Kissamos area on 5 February 1823. He died while his companions were trying to move him to the village of Platania, where he was buried. He is commemorated in the name of Tsouderon Street, where I stayed last year and the year before in Pepi Studios.

The monastery in Preveli was active again in organising rebellions against the Turks in the 19th century. The disaster at Arkadi Monastery in November 1866 did not deter Abbot Agathangelos and his monks, who fed and sheltered up to 200 rebels in Preveli on a daily basis. In a revenge attack on 7 July 1867, Resit Pasha and 8,000 Turkish soldiers set fire to the Lower Monastery and its farms in the neighbouring villages. The Rear Monastery was saved at the last moment and continued its active role until the end of the revolution in 1869.

When yet another revolution broke out in 1878, the Rear Monastery became rebel headquarters and the abbot fought at the front line. Captain Nicolaos Soumelis moored his ship Panellinion below the monastery at the mouth of the river at the beach in Preveli, bringing ashore guns and supplies.

The revolutions were instrumental in securing Crete’s eventual autonomy in 1896, followed by political union with Greece 100 years ago in 1913.

Tablets in the monastery courtyard tell of the rescue of allied troops by the monks of Preveli (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

During the German occupation of Crete in World War II, 5,000 Greek, Australian, New Zealand and British troops who fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941 found themselves stranded on the island. Many found shelter in the monastery and others were hidden in homes and farms nearby.

The Abbot, Agathangelos Lagouvardos, helped organise their escape to Egypt on two submarines, the Thrasher and the Torbay, came close to the Palm Beach at Preveli below the monastery on the nights of 31 May and June 1941 and 20 and 21 August 1941.

Two British submarines rescued allied troops from the Palm Beach below Preveli Monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

In a revenge attack on 25 August 1941, the Germans plundered the monastery, the Lower Monastery was destroyed completely, and many of the monks were sent to Firka Prison in Chania.

Among the precious items plundered from the Monastery by the Germans was its most precious relic, the miraculous Cross of Abbot Ephraim Prevelis.

But the monks who returned immediately began rebuilding the Rear Monastery with help from local people and from other monasteries in Crete. Meanwhile, Abbot Agathangelos had joined the Greek Army in the Middle East as a chaplain. He died suddenly, two days before he was due to return to Greece after the liberation.

The Lower (Kato) Monastery of Saint John the Baptist once housed the younger monks and lay people who worked at the monastery, and remains a mainly abandoned collection of buildings, with the main church or katholikon in the centre of the courtyard.

The icons and the remaining relics have been rescued and are now in the museum at the Rear Monastery, and many of the restored buildings are open to the public. In the courtyard, a series of monuments recall the role the monastery played in World War II, many of them financed by rescued Australian former soldiers.

The Rear Monastery is at the foot of a mountain and overlooks the Libyan Sea. The monastery is the shape of an irregular letter Π, with buildings on the north, the west and part of the east sides of a level area, with the main church or katholikon in the centre of the courtyard.

The katholikon or main church was built in 1835-1837 on the site of earlier churches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

The katholikon stands on the site of the older, probably frescoed church that was demolished in 1835. The present church was completed in 1837 and was consecrated that year. The church is a large two-nave building, unified internally by a sequence of three arches.

The marble doorframes and the Byzantine double-headed eagle were put in place on the west front of the church in 1911, replacing much simpler doorframes from 1835.

Inside, the interior of the church has remained intact. The naves are separated by a series of three semi-circular arches supported on strong pillars with simple capitals and bases.

The icons of Saint John the Theologian and Saint Charalambos are the works of a very fine painter who worked in this area in the 1830s and is known as the “Painter of Sfakia.”

The icons of the iconostasis were painted by local painters in 1840-1841. This iconostasis spans the two naves of the church as one unit. The design and decoration link it to the tradition of the Cretan School of Painting at the end of Venetian rule.

The carved, wooden, gold-plated pulpit has wooden stairs that twist round the adjoining pillar, was carved in 1863 and decorated in 1874. The lower part of the pulpit is formed by three triangular bevelled sections divided by rows of stars. Each triangular section has floral decorations surrounding two oval frames with icons of the 12 Apostles.

A magnificent Patriarchal Throne stands against the south wall, for this monastery comes under the direct oversight of the Ecumenical Patriarch.

The bell tower at the west end of the katholikon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

A long, enclosed chamber, once used as stables, now houses the museum of the monastery. The collection of icons covers a period from the early 17th century to the end of 19th century. The museum displays a large collection of vestments, sacred vessels, relics, manuscripts and books, although many valuable items from the past were sold in the 19th century to raise money for arms and ammunitions in different revolutions.

The best-known item in Preveli is on display not in the museum but in the katholikon. This is the large, richly decorated silver cross brought back to Preveli from Constantinople by Abbot Ephrem and now kept in a special shrine in the main church.

The monastery is built on a hill looking out to the Libyan Sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

It is said this cross was carried in the frontline in battles, but was lost in 1823 in a battle against the Turks at Amourgeles. It was found later that year in the possession of Genoese sailors. According to legend, they had bought the cross in Iraklion, but their ship suddenly stopped while sailing in the Libyan Sea near Preveli and for three days they could not continue their journey until finally they returned the cross to the monastery.

A similar story about the cross is associated with the German destruction of the monastery in 1941. German officers removed the Cross from the monastery and tried to send it in Germany. However, it is said the plane it was put on could not take off for Athens. The cross was placed on a second plane, but that too failed to take off. A few days after it had been looted, the cross was returned to Preveli, where it was put back on display in the church on 13 September, the eve of the feast celebrating the finding of the True Cross.

The cells where the monks live on the north side of the monastery courtyard … today the community has dwindled in numbers to three (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Today, the monastic community has dwindled in numbers so that there are only three monks living in the monastery. It is a crisis in monastic vocations that is hitting many monasteries throughout Greece.

However, I was warmly invited into the katholikon this week by one of the monks, who pointed out the main aspects of the church.

He quickly realised I was a priest, and asked me which Church I was from and who was my bishop.

“Michael Jackson,” I replied, “he is my archbishop,” and I handed him my business card.

“Michael Jackson?” he asked quizzically. And then he filled the vaulted church with hearty laughter.

But then he pointed out the icons, the patriarch’s throne, and other treasures in the Church. He told me the story of the Cross, put on his stole, took the Cross out of its shrine, and blessed me before I went on my way.