One day, while passing by a ruined monastery, a ten-year-old girl heard the call of the Most Holy Theotokos. From that moment, her entire life was devoted to God and to restoring the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Kyra.
I first learned of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Kyra—translated from Greek as “Lady of the Angels”—located in southern Corfu, 40 kilometers from the city of Kerkyra, quite by chance from a driver who took me to the island’s renowned spiritual sites. After visiting the Pantokrator Monastery at the northern peak of Corfu, the Kamarela Monastery, and the Convent of Saint Paraskevi the Martyr in the village of Sgourades, he told me of Eldress Anastasia, the barefoot ascetic who labored at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Kyra and reposed in 1979. I could not miss the chance to learn more about the spiritual struggles of this modern-day saint. Within hours, our car was en route to this remote monastery.
The “Lady of the Angels” greeted us with silence and closed gates. We rang the bell for a long time before the monastery’s sole resident and caretaker, Sister Athanasia, heard us from the backyard. When the gates finally opened, we beheld a breathtaking church—the fruit of Mother Anastasia’s prayers and physical toil.
When Anastasia was ten years old, this church lay in ruins. One day, as she passed by and crossed herself, the girl heard a woman’s voice from the bell tower: “How sad that My house has become a desert. You, My child, are called to restore My temple and monastery.”
At fourteen, Anastasia left her parents to become a novice at a Monastery dedicated to Saint Nicholas. There, she embraced a life of severe asceticism—prayer, fasting, and humility—wholly dedicating herself to God while holding the Theotokos’ blessing in her heart. Only nine years later, strengthened in spirit and with the blessing of the abbess of Saint Nicholas Monastery, she returned to the “Lady of the Angels.” By then, the ancient monastery was completely derelict. Wild fig trees overgrew the church site. Anastasia slept under the open sky until her relatives built her a cell.
The ascetic often slept on the floor, though she had a makeshift wooden bed. Instead of a pillow, she used a stone that remains in her cell to this day. The novice ate once daily after sunset—a piece of bread and baked wild vegetables—while fasting entirely three days a week. Constant fasting led to vitamin deficiency and a goiter the size of an orange, a thyroid condition. During fieldwork, she injured her leg but never complained or sought medical help. Her only remedy was oil from the lampada before the icon of the Virgin Mary of Kyra, which she used when pain became unbearable. She sustained her strength solely through Holy Communion. She never wore shoes, even in winter, and dressed in patched, threadbare black garments—as captured in photographs.
The first novice arrived only twenty years after Anastasia’s ceaseless spiritual labors. Soon, seven nuns dwelled in the monastery. She taught all who sought her counsel humility, invisibility, and unceasing prayer. Though materially poor, she was rich in spiritual gifts granted by God for her ascetic struggles. She acquired the gift of discernment and the grace to intercede for others. She prayed day and night in the hollow of a thousand-year-old olive tree—so fervently that some claimed she lived there for three years. At night, people saw light emanating from the hollow, testifying to her unbroken prayer.
For years, people knocked at the monastery gates, begging for her prayers, wise counsel, or to discern God’s will. She prevented crimes, exposed wrongdoers, compelled repentance, aided people during wartime occupation, and by God’s power healed many possessed, who would shriek in protest upon hearing her name: “We cannot endure this barefooted eldress!”
She often knew in advance who would visit, despite the lack of telephones. “We have a wire from the monastery to every home on earth—the grace of God and the Theotokos,” she would say. She addressed God and the Theotokos as beloved companions, consulted angels in all matters, and astonished her contemporaries. Though selfless and detached from wealth, those who received her spiritual aid left donations to rebuild the monastery. Thus, the ancient cloister was gradually restored. Giving all she had, she shared God’s abundant grace with others.
The enemy of mankind could not allow the ascetic to live in peace. Throughout her life, Mother Anastasia endured relentless persecution—not only from authorities and clergy but also from those driven by malice. The sacred grounds of the monastery were not spared: some sought to exploit the church for profit, turning it into a venue for leisure or even hosting fairs. A portion of the monastery’s land was seized and converted into a village cemetery, which to this day presses against the monastery’s displaced walls. In 1936, the authorities forcibly evicted Anastasia from her cell, compelling her to leave the monastery for a time until the persecutions subsided.
During her exile, she found refuge in the hollow of an ancient olive tree. What spiritual battles she waged there, what assaults from the evil one she endured, and what divine comfort she received from the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos remain known only to God. Yet the olive tree still bears the warmth of her presence. The lampada she lit in the hollow never extinguished, even during the fiercest storms. It is said that while the winds snuffed out the lamps in the church, the light from Anastasia’s lampada shone brightly around the hollow, a beacon that stirred envy. Once, a man serving in the church, overcome by rage, shattered her lampada. Soon after, his mare threw his wife and daughter to the ground. The family, stricken with remorse, came to beg forgiveness from the Eldress.
Weary of persecution, Anastasia moved to another monastery in northern Corfu. But soon, in a vision, a hierarch in a mitre commanded her to return. The persecutions resumed, now taking the form of mock trials. She was beaten repeatedly by police for refusing to abandon the Kyra Monastery—yet how could she defy the will of God?
Her angelic patience bore fruit. Despite every hardship, the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Kyra stands to this day, protected by a government decree. All those years, she remained a simple novice, never formally tonsured. At the time, monasticism in Greece had waned, with church leadership prioritizing central monasteries. Rural monasteries, often privately owned, became crucibles for saints—pillars of Orthodoxy—forged through deprivation and trials.
Fifty-five years passed in labor and care. Through the Eldress’s blessed efforts, the monastery was restored, a community formed, the church rebuilt, and the grounds expanded: behind the monastery now lies a lush olive grove, with mulberry and fig trees in bloom. Frail and impoverished, clutching monastic prayer beads yet without formal vows, she humbly awaited a blameless end and repose after her arduous labors.
In early September 1979, the frail novice Anastasia was in her cell when she received an unexpected visit from Metropolitan Polycarp (Vagenas) of Corfu. Her joy knew no bounds. The Eldress, who had known only indifference to her pleas while fighting for the monastery’s rights, could scarcely believe the metropolitan himself had come to ask permission to care for her and the monastery. At once, she sensed her impending departure.
Days later, the metropolitan returned. He heard her confession, summoned Sister Angelica—who would assume responsibility for the monastery after the Eldress’s repose—and Priest Nicholas Bulgari. Metropolitan Polycarp recited the rite of the Great Schema, removed the schema from his own chest, and vested her in it, bestowing the new name Amvrosia. She then received Holy Unction, Confession, and Holy Communion, preparing her for the Heavenly Kingdom. The Theotokos herself had sent the metropolitan to clothe the Eldress in the angelic rank before her death. On September 22, Mother Anastasia peacefully departed to the Lord. For the first and only time, the sisters replaced her tattered garments with a new cassock.
A sister cut a lock of her hair and preserved it in a box alongside three white stones from her grave, which later became a site of mass pilgrimage.
Accounts of Miraculous Events from the Life of Eldress Anastasia
One evening, Mother Anastasia suddenly became deeply agitated. At night, she instructed the sisters to continue their prayer rule while declaring, “I must go to save some souls.” In the city, she encountered a young man in a state of turmoil. The Eldress revealed to him a crime he had committed years earlier. Astonished, the man confessed: “It’s true. I was 13, and my brother was 11. Our mother had died, and our father married a cruel woman who tormented us. I ran away to Athens, fell in with a bad crowd, and committed a terrible crime for which I served 15 years. But how did you know?” “The Most Holy Theotokos told me,” the Eldress replied humbly. The man admitted, “I was going to my village to kill my father.” “Ah, my son,” Mother Anastasia sighed, “despite your mistakes, you are a good man. The Theotokos sent me to stop the evil you intended.” The man fell to his knees, kissing her bare feet. She led him to the Monastery of Platytera, where he confessed. Afterward, he asked, “Can I become a monk?” “Of course,” she replied warmly, “you may even become a saint.”
Mrs. A. from Igoumenitsa had been married for eight years without children. Desperate, she asked the Eldress to visit her home and pray. Mother Anastasia agreed and requested solitude in a room with an iconostasis. The woman withdrew but observed secretly from above. The Eldress knelt bare-legged on the rough wooden floor, praying fervently with her face to the ground. Her tears mingled with blood seeping from her knees. Suddenly, she rose, thanked God, and called Mrs. A.: “Christ has told me that joy will enter your home with the birth of children.” Two months later, the woman conceived, first bearing a daughter, then a son.
The father-in-law of church chanter Konstantinos Mavromatis faced a bitter inheritance dispute. Suddenly taken ill, he was confined to a psychiatric clinic by his relatives. His weeping wife sought the Eldress’s counsel. After praying, Mother Anastasia said, “Your husband is not ill. Bring him home, then retrieve a blanket from the closet”—she specified which one—“cut 13 times with magical incantations. Burn it at once.” The woman obeyed, and her husband was healed, freed from demonic torment.
Mrs. Georgia Chrysovitsianou recounts: “In despair, I went to the Eldress to beg prayers for my trouble. Before I could explain, she assured me, ‘Do not worry—you will bear two children.’ And so it happened.” Her firstborn, Konstantinos Christovitsianos, now serves as a priest.
Dr. Spyridon Chrisikopoulos, who spent much of his childhood near Eldress Anastasia, shares: “I recall a woman named Antonia, diagnosed with infertility. After futile treatments, even in London, she came to the monastery in despair. The Eldress called her over: ‘Do not lose hope, child. Let me ask my “doctors” what they can do.’ Curious, I sneaked into the church, hiding behind priestly vestments in the altar. The Eldress closed the church, approached the iconostasis, and knelt before the Theotokos’ icon. Her whispered prayers filled the air with unintelligible voices. Light radiated from her face, joy mingling with tears. A fragrant aroma, like marjoram, enveloped the space. Time seemed suspended until the Eldress suddenly said, ‘Go outside. One day, you will understand when you examine your patients.’
Later, the Eldress emerged and told Antonia joyfully, ‘You will bring both here to baptize!’ Antonia’s weary face lit up. Years later, she returned to baptize her twins. After the sacrament, Mother Anastasia told her, gesturing to me: ‘See, my child? Your faith and tears strengthened the wings of my friends—the angels of Kyra—who brought you this gift. Trust God with all your soul, glorify Him daily, love Him selflessly, and He will always aid you.’”
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Pilgrims worldwide still visit Eldress Anastasia’s grave to honor her spiritual legacy and seek her intercession. They take three stones from her grave, pledging to return them once their prayers are answered. Many have fulfilled this vow—and many more will.
Translated by The Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://pravoslavie.ru/96101.html
The Glorious Lady of Massabielle Grotto…Lourdes France…
Wonderfully inspiring. Pray for me!