This charming whitewashed complex of buildings with its little rock-cut church is renowned in the Dodecanese for its miraculous icon.The Spiliani has been the center of worship on Nisyros since at least the early 18th century, but was founded much earlier. Though it is in fact little more than a small cavern recorded as having once served as a hay barn, the church nevertheless forms part of a larger, more imposing monastic complex that stands well above Mandraki, being visible from virtually all directions as one approaches the town.

Though no recorded date accompanies the events that led to the Spiliani’s establishment, the account includes numerous highly specific details that have been passed down from generation to generation, and are now important aspect of worship there. 

The story has it that one night the people of Mandraki noticed a small flickering light on the side of a cliff at the place now known as “Vretou”(from ‘evretou’ or place of discovery), not far from today’unicipal baths.
A farmer undertook to discover the source of the light, and, scaling a cliff, found a small icon of the Virgin Mary. This man the transferred the icon to the church of “Panagia Potamissa’ for safekeeping, but it soon disappeared, much to the consternation of the locals. A few days later, it was discovered on a hay bale in the castle grotto.

After being restored to the Potamissa, it disappeared again, and was retrieved, once more, from the grotto. This continued few times, until someone interpreted the mysterious happening as a divine sign that a church to the Dormition of the Virgin should be consecrated on the site of the cavern.

The earliest date that can be assigned to the monastery with any confidence is 1600, as testified from a document seal with the name of the church, now unfortunately lost. It is nevertheless probable that the church is none or two centuries older, from the period of Frankish occupation. We know from a carved inscription that the ornate iconostasis was finished in 1725, and that the large icon of Virgin Hodigitria was silver-glided 1798 by nisyrian artisan Diakogeorgios Pavlou(inscribed Georgios Anagnostou) who was commissioned by the ‘hegumen'(Abbott) Athanasios Proskinitis; it is said that the original small icon is now hidden under the Virgin’s hand.

The Monastic complex is reached from the main street in Langadi near the church of the Potamissa, from which point a total of 130 steps lead up to the central courtyard. This courtyard is enclosed on the south by the kitchens, storage rooms, a bell tower and cells for the visitors. These are mostly in use during the nine-day feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, from 6th and 15th of August, during which time Nisyrian women(the ‘niameritisses’ or ‘nine-day-women’, who usually include pilgrims from Cos and other neighboring islands where the fame of the monastery has spread over the centuries), undertake to make penance 300 times daily for the duration of the feast. Often these penitents, who can be both married or unmarried women, remain in the church of the Spiliani to repeat a dirge known as ‘To Miroloi ths Magalocharis( Dirge of the Virgin).

On the eve of the feast of the Virgin, the island fasts; on the following day at noon a feast is held at the ‘Zosimopouleos Theater courtyard above ‘Ilikiomeni Square’, with food, drink and dance to celebrate the conclusion of the holiday. In older times the dance known as the ‘Koupa the Panagia (Virgin’s bowl) used to be held in a small square known as ‘Tavla tou Yialou'(Seaside Plaza) under the monastery. During the dance the leading woman holds a metal bowl, in which coins are tossed by celebrants toward the collection of a public fund.

From the central courtyard of the Spiliani one can access a long corridor that leads to a hall, a library, and larger cells. A flight of steps leads down to the corridor into the church, which contains a side-chapel of Agios Charalambos, whose feast is celebrated on the 10th of February. A plethora of silver-glided icons and votive plaques and offerings fill the grotto, including numerous chalice-shaped single-wick candelabra. These are said to have been dedicated by celebrants who would toss their clay and glass wine over the cliff, pledging to replace these with silver ones if they remained unbroken.

Other miraculous stories associated with the monastery (check also the one in the Nazi occupation chapter in this site) include one concerning the dedication of a hanging silver lamp in the shape of a dove. This piece is said to have been offered by two thieves who managed to enter the church one night with the purpose of stripping it of all the valuable offering that they could lay their hands on. As they helped themselves to the treasure, the door suddenly shut fast and they were unable to open it again, despite the violence of their efforts. In a panic they replaced every item that they had taken and begged for forgiveness to the Virgin. She at once sent a white dove through the small window into the church, and it tapped the door open with its beak. The thieves, amazed, repented and returned with their offering.

The Spiliani owns numerous properties on Nisyros, including smaller monastic complexes in the countryside known as dependencies or ‘metochia’, like Panagia Sion (siones), Panagia Diavatini, Agios Pantelleimon, Armas, and Stavros. Most of these ‘metochia’ are known to have been inhabitated by monks(often even with their own hegumens) as early as the 18th century. Typically they consist of small chapels, or churches, modest living quarters, and farm buildings, as the monks and nuns who inhabitated them desired self-sufficiency. The chapel and churches are invariably plain, single-naved barrel-vaulted buildings of the sort that came to be established after 7th century. It is worth noting that ‘metochia’ are almost always situated on rocky outcroppings, in order not to occupy valuable arable land.

The Panayia Spiliani monastery is built atop a hill, northwest of Mandraki.

Sections of the Paleokastro wall are preserved around the monastery; the

monastery itself is protected by the ‘Castle of Rhodes Knights’ erected by Ioannite knights in the early 14th century.

The main part of the monastery is housed in a natural cavity.

The cave is divided in two temples.

The northern one is dedicated to the Dormition and the southern one to Agios Haralambos.

The temple’s chancel screen, another hallmark is carved in wood; its original gold plating is intact at some points.

There is the inscription «ΑΨΚΕ΄-1725», referring to its construction date.

Several parts of older temples are embedded inside the temple.

The Chancel Table is supported on a roman altar, decorated with oxheads and garlands.

The Chancel Table slab is part of an ancient column with the inscription: «ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝ … ΤΕΥΚΛΕΥΣ»

A part of older marble chancel screen is also intact, probably of the 10th-12th century

The following icons decorate the temple: Jesus Christ, with silver lining, from the 2nd half of the 18th century.

Of the Virgin Mary, which was renovated in 1798 according to the inscription.

The right arm of the figure is feistier than the left; according to tradition, it encloses the small Holy Mary icon found at the ‘Vretos’ site; it is claimed to be the work of the Evangelist Luke.

The icon is double – faced; Saint Nicholas is painted on the back.

The Dormition, with silver lining Agios Haralambos, 18th century, with silver lining.