THE CATHOLICON OF THE MONASTERY OF AGIOS PANTELEIMON ON THE ISLAND OF IOANNINA, GREECE

The monastery is located at the southeast end of the settlement of the Island of Ioannina (Fig. 1) and became widely known in modern history after Ali Pasha, the ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, was assassinated in its cells in 1822 by the troops of sultan Mahmud II1. However, the monastery’s existence is historically documented as going back much earlier, as it is mentioned in the autobiography of the monks Nektarios and Theophanis, who were brothers and descendants of the noble Byzantine family of Apsarades from Ioannina in 1506/15072. It is also known that the Apsarades founded the neighboring monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos3. The two brothers mention in their autobiography that next to the monastery of Prodromos there was a small hermitage of Agios Panteleimon, where a monk named Antonios was staying4. The monastery of Agios Panteleimon is mentioned in many wills and memoirs from 1643 onwards5. Therefore, its existence has been historically presumed at least since the 15th century.


Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana
The catholicon today is a three-aisled basilica with a quadruple roof and in its present size was probably built in late 17 th or early 18 th century (Fig. 2). The aisles are separated by wooden colonnades. The west and north walls, probably most of the east, were rebuilt after their destruction by falling rocks in the early 19 th century 6 . In the east there is a semicircular arch. The original church was supposed to be small and oneaisled with a semicircular arch, traces of which were discovered on the southeast side of the modern church 7 . F r o m t h e e a r l y building phase the modern church has incorporated part of the south wall, which dates to the early 15 th century 8 (Fig. 3). Along the south wall a late 19 th century loggia was added, which has a sloping roof lower than that of the church, and possibly replacing an older one. The only column of the loggia comes from an earlier building phase of the church 9 . On the west side there is a rectangular narthex, possibly of the same date as the loggia, which is roofed with a quadruple roof. The present entrance door to the main church is located at the western end of the south wall, while the original door was in the middle of the same wall and has been walled today. There is a small conch above the walled door. An entrance door also opens to the south wall of the narthex. The catholicon, the loggia, and the narthex are covered with slates. The floor of the catholicon is covered with large rectangular stones. A small lighting hole opens in the arch, a window in the north wall of the sanctuary and three more in the north wall of the nave.

Commentarii / Статьи
The church is built with irregularly placed stones. More elaborate construction is visible on the arch with carved stones in the pseudo-isodomic system and three parallel rows, at approximately equal distances, with local gray stones. On the south wall between the stones are inserted bricks. A brick arched frame is formed above the walled gate 10 .
The wooden iconostasis dates back to the 17 th century and its lower parts to the 19 th century 11 . Some remarkable icons belong to the monastery, most of which are now in the collection of the metropolis of Ioannina. We should mention an icon with St. Panteleimon (15 th c.) 12 , another one with St. Nicholas (c. 1500) 13 and one more with the enthroned Christ Pantokrator (1 st decade of the 16 th c.) 14 . Dakaris mentions that a Corinthian capital of a colonnade, decorated with a basket of degenerate thorns and three-leafs, was taken from the monastery 15 .
The fresco decoration of the catholicon is confined to the outer front of the south wall and the lower parts of the sanctuary and the nave (Fig. 4). It is of particular importance, as we distinguish five post-Byzantine phases, the first of which may be dated to the second half of the 15 th century 16 (Fig. 5). The first phase paintings are located in the eastern part of the outer front of the south wall. The rest continue to the west on the outer front of the same wall and on the lower parts inside the church.
From the initial phase, the Deesis can be seen in the lower zone of the southern wall within a frame, from which Christ, Ο CΩ [ΤΗΡ] (the Savior), and on the left the Virgin Mary (ΜΗΡ [ΘΥ]) are preserved (Fig. 6  , is depicted full-length and frontally, holding a closed Gospel with his left hand and blessing with his right. Above the Deesis, there are three unidentified half-length saints, of whom at least the right one must be a soldier and the middle holds a cross with his raised right hand. To the right of the Deesis a head is visible, probably of an angel, whose position, however, is problematic, as it is depicted exactly next to the closed Gospel of Christ (Fig. 7).
The    Fig. 13. 30 Agrevi M. The Wall Paintings… Fig. 27a- Commentarii / Статьи such as «Ρ», «Λ» and «Μ» (R, L, M) also resemble the types of letters of the painter Xenos Digenis in the Koimisis at Kato Meropi and in the Monastery of Myrtia 31 . Of course, it is very difficult to attribute the murals to Xenos Digenis, but they may belong to another gifted artist whose art is very close to that of the painter from Mouchli of Arcadia, yet at the same time it is influenced by the Macedonian Palaiologan tradition.
A second layer of murals is found above the niche of the south wall at the front of the arch of the niche, where Christ is depicted half-length and blessing with open arms (Fig. 8). On either side of the niche there are two full-length archangels who have been partly repainted. Just below the niche, in a narrow frame, there is an illegible inscription today in two rows, with black letters on the white background from which the left part is preserved. Only a few letters are visible: The inscription seems to be the dedicatory one of this phase. This layer can be dated to the 16 th century mainly on the basis of stratigraphy, as it is located above the layer of the 15 th century and below that of the next phase (1617/1618 Fig. 7. 32   To the third phase of painting belongs the enthroned Virgin Mary holding the Child amid two angels, pictured behind her massive wooden throne (Fig. 9). The composition is located to the right of the entrance door to the church. To the left of the head of the Virgin Mary one can read the inscription Η Υ[ΨΗΛ]Ο/ΤΕ[Ρ]Α [ΤΩΝ ΟΥ]ΡΑ/ΝΟΝ. This layer is precisely dated by an inscription. Above the enthroned Virgin Mary within a triple frame there is a dedicatory inscription in red letters on the green background in two rows, which had not been read until today (Fig. 10) 37 :
Above the walled arched door of the south wall, a liturgical inscription is preserved inside a frame defined by a thick red line with black letters on the white background. The epigram belongs to the same phase as the enthroned Virgin Mary, considering that the letters are similar with those of the dedicatory inscription. This epigram, which also has not been read to date, covers the half of the arch of the walled door and includes the eighth verse of the fifth Psalm:
This inscription is very important, as it indicates that at least until the 17 th century the gate walled today was in use.
The penultimate phase is found only in the interior of the catholicon, in the lower parts of the sanctuary and on the north and south walls of the nave, where a decorative zone, in the 36 See Fig. 8 and footnote Nr 14. 37 I would like to thank fr. Gregory Manopoulos for his help in reading the inscription. Foto I. P. Chouliarás, 2020 Commentarii / Статьи form of a fabric with folds (podea) is distinguished. On the southern wall of the sanctuary, traces of saints, probably hierarchs and a decorative zone in the lower part, are preserved. There is a similar decorative zone in the northeast corner of the sanctuary. The feet of at least two saints are visible on the north wall of the nave, another figure of a saint next to the iconostasis on the south wall and to the right of the doorway to the church there is the lower part of the body of a frontal archangel, probably Michael, who steps on a cloud (Fig. 11). The detail with the realistically rendered cloud, the strict frontality of the archangel and the type of his shoes are similar to icons of the early 18 th century 38 . Above the door there should have been an inscription, mentioned by Aravantinos, but not preserved today, and bearing the date ΑΨΖ (= 1707) 39 . Aravantinos transcribes it without separating the lines and obviously without keeping the spelling: «Ανεκαινίσθη ο πάνσεπτος ούτος ναός του Αγίου ενδόξου μεγαλομάρτυρος και ιαματικού Παντελεήμονος από του σωτηρίου έτους 1078 κατά την σημείωσιν των κτιτόρων τού Αγίου Ιωάννου, Νεκταρίου και Θεοφάνους και ιστορήθη αρχιερατεύοντος του παναγιωτάτου μητροπολίτου Ιωαννίνων Κυρίου Κλήμεντος και ηγεμονεύοντος (ηγουμενεύοντος) του πανοσιωτάτου Κυρίου Κυρίλλου δια συνδρομής της δούλης του Θεού Χάιδως και των αυτών ρουφετίων τού ινσαφίου (ισναφίου) των σαράτσιδων δια μνημόσυνον γονέων και συγγενών. Ετελειώθη η ιστορία το έτος ΑΨΖ (1707 Οκτ. 11) ». «This pious temple of the glorious great martyr and healer Panteleimon was renovated from the salvation year 1078 according to the note of the founders of Agios Ioannis, Nektarios and Theophanis, and was narrated (painted) during the hierarchy of his holiness the metropolitan of Ioannina Mr Klimis and during the hegemony (probably: abbotship) of the pious Mr Kyrillos with the assistance of the servant of God Haidos and of the same rufets (guilds) of the insafi (probably: esnaf) of the saratsides for the memorial of parents and relatives. The story (painting) completed the year ΑΨΖ (1707 October 11)». According to the above inscription the penultimate layer is dated to 1707 and this inscription was placed above the new entrance to the catholicon, which replaced the previous one in the middle of the south wall, at the end of the 17 th or beginning of the 18 th century, after a radical renovation that gave the catholicon its present form. Nektarios and Theophanis were brothers from the Byzantine family of Apsarades, who founded the neighbouring monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos 40 . The inscription refers to their autobiography, which mentions the monastery of Agios Panteleimon 41 . In question is the date 1078, as it is for sure a misun-38 Αχειμάστου-Ποταμιάνου M. Εικόνες της Ζακύνθου. Αθήνα, 1997. Σ. 190-195. Αρ. 53, 54; Μυλωνά Ζ. Μουσείο Ζακύνθου. Αθήνα, 2010. Σ. 307, 311. Αρ. 130, 132. 39 Αραβαντινός Π. Περιγραφή της Ηπείρου, εις μέρη τρία, Μέρος Γ΄. Ιωάννινα, 1866 (reprint: Ιωάννινα, 1984). Σ. 13-14. 40 See above in the footnote Nr 3. 41 See above in the footnote Nr 2. The rufet (esnaf) of the saratsides was a guild with a few members and they were making sandals (saratsika) and equestrian items, but their donation to the monastery shows that they were financially prosperous 43 . Besides, it is known that Ioannina was experiencing great commercial prosperity since the 17 th century 44 . During the late 19 th century, the outer conch of the south wall was repainted with St. Panteleimon, who is depicted half-length and holding a vessel and a scalpel (Fig. 8).
The building phases of the catholicon and the multiple layers of its decoration make it one of the most important monuments of the Ioannina area, as it preserves the oldest known frescoes on the Island and throughout the Ioannina basin. Until now the oldest known frescoes on the Island were those of the first layer of the monastery of Philanthropinon (1531/1532) 45 and in the basin of Ioannina those in Agios Georgios in Kato Lapsista (1508) 46 and in the church of the Koimisis in Longades (late 15 th -early 16 th c.) 47 . For the external representation in the outer conch, above the entrance door of the monastery of Philanthropinon, where the archangel Michael is probably depicted, we cannot support any dating, as the fresco is largely extinct today 48 . At the same time, after having read one of the dedicatory inscriptions and the liturgical epigram, it became possible to distinguish more clearly the building phases and the painting layers and to make more effective use of the older reading, by Aravantinos, of the inscription in the interior of the catholicon, which doesn't exist today. The decoration of this monastery is a palimpsest very important for understanding the evolution of the artistic creation on the Island of Ioannina since it includes the painting of five centuries (15 th -19 th c.). The catholicon of the monastery of Agios Panteleimon on the Island of Ioannina, Greece Summary: The monastery is located at the SE end of the settlement of the Island and became widely known in modern history, as Ali Pasha was assassinated in its cells in 1822. The catholicon today is a three-aisled basilica with a quadruple roof and in its present size was probably built at late 17 th or early 18 th century. The aisles are separated by wooden colonnades. The W and N walls, probably most of the E, were rebuilt after their destruction in the early 19 th century by falling rocks. In the E there is a semicircular arch. The original church was supposed to be a small one-aisled with a semicircular arch, traces of which were discovered on the SE side of the modern church. From the early building phase the modern church has incorporated part of the S wall, which dates to the early 15 th century. On the W side was added a late 19 th century loggia, which is roofed with a sloping roof lower than that of the church and possibly replaced an older one. The column of the loggia comes from an earlier building phase of the church. On the W side is raised a rectangular narthex, possibly of the same date as the loggia, which is roofed with a quadruple roof. The present entrance door to the main church is located at the W end of the S wall, while the original door was opened in the middle of the same wall and has been walled today. There is a small conch above the walled door. The church is built of stone with irregularly placed stones. More elaborate construction on the arch with carved stones in the pseudo-isodomic system. On the S wall between the stones are inserted bricks. Brick arched frame is formed above the walled gate. The fresco decoration of the catholicon is confined to the outer front of the S wall and the lower parts of the main church. It is of particular importance, as we distinguish five post-Byzantine phases, the first of which at the end of the 15 th century. The first is located in the E part of the outer front of the S wall. The rest continue to the W on the outer front of the same wall and on the lower parts inside the main church. In the initial phase of the frescoes belong the Deisis with the Christ and the Virgin, as well as the frontal St. Nicholas, behind the Virgin. The upper parts of the scene have been repainted. The next phase, which can be dated to the 16 th century, involves the half-bodied Christ above the conch of the S wall, who blesses with open arms and two full-length archangels on either side of the conch, who have also been repainted. In the third phase