Ten kilometers north of the city of Serres and two from the settlement of Metohi, in a green landscape, at the bottom of a ravine, is the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at Vyssiani, which was founded in 1972 on the initiative of believers from Serres.
Its current form (katholikon, chapel, refectory, handicraft exhibition, Monks’ cells) was obtained after years of efforts. This monastery takes its name from a nearby village called Vyssiani. Old religious utensils and books couldn’t be saved. This village was first referred to in a document written in the year 1320. But we have more information from documents written years later (1328-1344). The village was destroyed in 1916 by the Bulgarian army, and only its ruins remain today.
During the Macedonian War, the monastery was used as a refuge for Macedonians and as a cache of weapons and ammunition. It was damaged during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 and was deserted. To repair the damages, a brotherhood, called “Agathoros Adelfotis “The Dormition of the Virgin Byssiani”, was organized. The first concern of the Brotherhood was the reconstruction of the old temple of the monastery. The reconstruction works started in July 1925 and ended in 1928, while the inauguration took place on September 17, 1925. The place of this Brotherhood is taken by another union founded at the same time.
In this monastery is the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary. Folk tradition says that this icon was found by a farmer at the place where the temple was built. The farmer saw for four consecutive nights a mysterious light emanated from this place. They also say that the existence of abundant water is a miracle. The holy water was dried up for many years. As if by a miracle of the Virgin Mary, on the eve of her feast day (August 14, 1996), the water began to flow non-stop until today.
The monastery today is a Holy Women’s Communal Monastery. The first nun who settled in the monastery was Pelagia from the Saint Minas Monastery of Drama in 1972. But in 1984, the Metropolitan of Serres and Nigrita Maximos staffed the Monastery with a female Brotherhood. The monks, being industriousness and philanthropists, decorated the courtyard with flowers. So pure and beautiful, the monastery welcomes the believers in a welcoming and reverent environment, where gentle and ecstatic peace prevails.
https://www.monastiria.gr/iera-moni-panagias-vissianis-serron/
Congratulation!