St. Meletios of Ypseni (or Lardos) and his monastery today

Saint Meletios was born in the village of Lardos, Rhodes, during the difficult time of Turkish Occupation. At baptism he received the name, Emmanuel. He travelled through life with little worldy learning, but held a wealth of grace, virtue, purity, innocence and great love for God.

St. Meletios was a man of prayer.

He discovered the deserted places about Lardos, while shepherding his father’s sheep, and calming his soul with prayer and zeal for the monastic life.

On one of his excusrsions he had a vision which showed the icon of the Virgin Ypseni at the root of a certain oil tree. Following this vision, and led by the grace of the Virgin, he decided to follow the  monastic life and dedicate himself to God.  So, he built a Church in the place where he found the icon, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. The Metropolitan ordained him a Priest-Monk and made him Abbot of the Monastery.

He lived a strict ascetic life… In the evenings he escaped to a cave near the monastery and prayed and during the daytime he heard confessions of the Christian faithful,  giving them strength to keep their faith throughout those difficult times. God also gave him the gift of healing and he cured sick and spiritually troubled souls.

He was slandered by the Turks and a price put on his head because of his work amongst the Greek Orthodox faithful. In the end, the Saint proved his innocence before the Metropolitan and then gave his last breath.

He was honoured as a saint by the Christians of the island and his relics, which continually gave off a sweet smelling fragrance, were shared out to various places.  A piece of the Holy Relics is kept in the Holy Monastery of Ypseni as a priceless treasure and source of healing and blessing for all those who venerate them with devotion.

Since St. Meletios his day of actual repose is not known his feast is celebrated together with that of his namesake St. Meletios,  Bishop of Great Antioch on the 12th February.

The monastery today

On the South-Eastern side of the island of Rhodes, 50 km from Rhodes Town, in the direction of Lindos and the village Lardos,  hidden in a once verdant forest is the monastery of the Virgin Ypseni or Gypseni.

There are two possible explanations for the title given the Virgin. Ypseni from the Greek word for height, indicating the monastery is built on high ground. There is a folk verse which says, “O Virgin of Ypseni, thou who art in the heights”. The other explanation says that it is a corruption of the word ‘gypseni’, because of the high amount of gypsum in the surrounding

According to the commemorative stone at the entrance of the Church, the monastery was built around  1855. It’s founder was St. Meletios of Lardos or Ypseni.

Today about 15 nuns live within the monastery, under the spiritual direction of the new abbess of the Monastery, Mariam.  The monastery’s first abbess was the nun, Eugenia.  The sisterhood was established by the current Metropolitan of New Zealand Amphilochios Tsoukos.

The monastery celebrates its patronal feast on the 22 and 23rd of August, on the leavetaking of the Dormition of the Mother of God, where multitudes of people come together. The monastery also celebrates the memory of St. Meletios on the 12th February.

The sisters of the monastery paint icons, sew, work the land (vines, olives, citrus fruits etc) and mount icon reproductions onto natural wood.

A monastery with a story of its own decorates the island of Rhodes and bestows a spirit of calm on visitors and pilgrims to the monastery alike.