Thessaloniki Monastery of Agia Theodora

Location: Town Centre

The Monastery of Agia (Saint) Theodora stands in the heart of Thessaloniki. Its history is intertwined with the saint, who resided there. Every day, pilgrims visit the religious building to worship her, ask for help, and revere her relics, stored in the monastery's katholikon.

According to the Life of Agia Theodora, the monastery existed years before her arrival and was called the Monastery of Agios Stefanos (Saint Stephen). It was later renamed due to Theodora’s great extent of honor and sanctification after her death. Theodora went to the monastery when she was 25 and became a nun, after donating her entire property. The premises mentioned in the texts include a chapel of the Virgin Mary in the middle of the right gallery of the church, a common grave of the brothers of the monastery within the catholic, cells, a kitchen, a refectory, a textile room, a mill, a courtyard, a bath, a shaft and a gatehouse.

After the fall of Thessaloniki in 1413, the Ottomans cut down the holy relic. However, the monastery of Agia Theodora did not follow the fate of most monasteries and churches, confiscated by Murat II and turned into mosques. In fact, it was one of the three monasteries that continued to operate in the city fall. That was because it was under the protection of Mara Brankovic, the stepmother of Mohammed II the Conqueror, who had purchased the monastery in 1459. The monastery was called Kizlar Manastir (meaning the monastery of girls), although the Turkish name did not prevail among Christians. It included a house for the priests, a school, a shop, and a chapel in the quarter of Saint Constantine in Hippodrome Square.

The catholic of the monastery was badly affected during the fires of 1890 and 1917, with the fire of 1917 destroying the katholikon completely. In fact, only the bell tower of the church survived. The new church was built near the destroyed catholic in 1935. In 1974, Metropolitan Panteleimon II completed the works in the monastery. In 1981, the Centre for Hagiological Studies of the Metropolis of Thessaloniki was founded in the monastery.