In the province of Kalavrita in the prefecture of Achaia in the Peloponnese is the village of Filia, which is 37 kilometres from Kalavrita, the seat of the homonymous municipality of Kalavrita, 101 kilometres from Patras and 205 kilometres from Athens.
The village is built amphitheatrically on the northern slope of "Profitis Ilias" and on the hill "Mouzakeika", at an altitude of 874 meters and it includes the settlements: Agii Theodoroi, Kalyvia, Zevgolatio, Kynigari and Chania.
At a distance of 3 km to the east is the Monastery of Agios Athanasios and within the village stands out the stone-built church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Another important attraction is the bridge on the Ladon River, in the settlement of Chania, which is one of the oldest bridges in the Peloponnese.
Most of the houses in the village are stone-built and have two levels, the basement or κατώγι and the main house above.
Origin of the name Filia
The history of the village is lost in the depths of time and goes back to the Byzantine era. The origin of the name of Filia is unknown, as well as when the village was first inhabited. What is certain is that the village has been called Filia since 1652, as can be seen from an official document of the Ecumenical Patriarch Paisios to the Holy Monastery of St. Athanasius.
According to the Book of Theodore III. Argyropoulos "HISTORY OF THE KALAVRITA FILIES AND THE MONASTERY OF S. Athanasius", published in Theodore Argyropoulos' "History of the KALAVRITA FILIES AND THE MONASTERY OF S. Athanasius". There are the following versions of the name Filia.
Initially it was believed that the name Filia (the Filia) is of Slavic origin, but this is not true since it is not included in the 38 Slavic place names of the province of Kalavrita during the research of the history of the Slavs in Greece by the German Max Vasmer.
There are several people who claim that the name Filia is Frankish and even Italian, coming from the word figlia which means daughter. Legend has it that either a Frankish feudal lord had settled in the area during the Frankish occupation and named the village (the) Filia in honour of his daughter, or that the villagers named the village Filia in honour of the daughter of the feudal lord who had settled in the area.
According to the memoirs of the lawyer Th. Rigopoulos, who was born in the village in 1803, the name Filia is Greek and comes from the plural of the word Filia , meaning Filia, that is, friendly, dear, and this is because in this village any foreigner who was in it was welcomed. This is probably the most correct version of the name of the village because in all the surviving documents of that time the village is written as Filia, or in Filia and not Filia.
SOURCE: Anastasia Charalambopoulou
THE CHURCH OF THE DORMITION OF THEOTOKOS
In the centre of the village dominates the majestic church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which was founded in 1907 and has been in operation since 1921. Together with the Ascension in Sires, they are the two largest churches of the Kalavrita district in terms of capacity.
The church is of Byzantine style, cruciform, with a dome, has two bell towers and is entirely built of carved limestone. Inside the church, the imposing wooden carved iconostasis, the frescoes and the area of the women's loft are impressive.
For the construction of the church, a hereditary committee was set up by villagers who undertook to carry out this work. The church was built by financial contributions from the Philhia people who lived in America and the permanent residents of the village who, in addition to the money they contributed, worked selflessly for the construction of the church.
The church is a trinitarian church and is commemorated on August 15 , the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, on February 11 of St. Vlasios and on January 18 of St. Athanasius.
THE BRIDGE IN LADONAS
The bridge of Chernotabei or Fileiko bridge, bridges the Ladon River shortly after its confluence with the Trago River (after having previously merged with the Aroanios), near the junction of the road "111" with the road to Filias.
The bridge was built by Chernotabei between 1512 and 1530 and is one of the oldest bridges in the Peloponnese. It is single-arched with two equal-sized relief spans on the right and left, arched and with their sides vertical. It is one of the most beautiful stone-built bridges of the Kalavrita region, standing proudly above the historic Ladon, rich in water all year round.
HOLY MONASTERY OF ST. ATHANASIUS
The Monastery of Agios Athanasios is located east of the village of Filia Kalavrita, on the south side of Mount Thisvetios. The date of the foundation of the monastery is not historically verified. It is considered a contemporary of the monastery of Agia Lavra, founded by a Peloponnesian monk of Mount Athos in honour of Patriarch Athanasius the Great of Alexandria.
Indirect reference to the monastery is based on the fact that during the reign of Sultan Selim I the Cruel (1512 - 1520), John or George Chernotadas (Chernotabeis), a resident of the area, discovered a treasure of the ancient Cletoras, while ploughing a property of the Monastery of St. Athanasius of Filion. This information confirms the existence and the wealth of the monastery at that time.
According to tradition, its foundation dates back to the end of the 10th century when the Emperor of Byzantium was Nikephoros Fokas. The first written evidence of the existence of the monastery comes from a patriarchal silhouette of 1652, according to which the Patriarch of Constantinople, Paisios I, declared it a patriarchal and crusading monastery. In 1781, Patriarch Gabriel IV renewed the privileges of the Monastery with a new Patriarchal silicon, while a little later in 1798, Patriarch Gregory V, having renewed the privileges of the Monastery, also renewed the Monastery's privileges, set the annual contribution of the Monastery to the Patriarchate at 105 groats.
The monastery is two-storey and in some parts was three-storey, stone-built with a paved courtyard and a spacious square that indicates the Roman period.
The catholic of the monastery is dedicated to Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria the Great. The church is built in the style of a three-aisled basilica, stone-built, with a tiled roof, octagonal dome and paved, built in 1763 according to an inscription on a marble inset stone located above the entrance thicket. The church had a carved wooden iconostasis with many old icons that unfortunately do not survive today, due to the burning of the monastery by the Germans in 1943.
THE MONASTERY DURING THE REVOLUTION OF 1821
The monastery made a great contribution during the Revolution of 1821 as it was a supply centre and a refuge for the fighters fighting against the Turks. In 1822, the monastery gave the Peloponnesian Senate 1000 groats for the conduct of the struggle and shortly afterwards it allocated the sum of 6000 groats , from the sale of one of its shares in the area of Patras, to be spent for the needs of the struggle. Its monk was the hierarch Metropolitan Gregory of Derka, who was killed by the Turks in June 1821 in Constantinople. The fountain that survives in front of the monastery's church was built in 1819 at his own expense. In the summer of 1826, Ibrahim's troops set fire to the monastery and most of its archives were destroyed. Of the 70 or so monks the monastery had before the Revolution, only seven remained in 1830, and its debts were mounting. In 1850, the monastery was taken over by Filaios Hieromonk Parthenios Chronis and he managed to restore the monastery both financially and in terms of human resources, completely renovated the burnt monastery, built threshing floors, stables, planted various fruit and non-fruit trees and cultivated a vineyard. By the time of his death in 1875, the monks numbered more than 60. Then the monastery began to decline and in 1928 it was annexed as a monastery to the Monastery of Agia Lavra of Kalavrita.
THE BURNING OF THE MONASTERY BY THE GERMANS
On 25 June 1943 the monastery was sacked by the Italian occupation troops, a few days after the village of Filia was burnt down by the same troops. After the looting, the Italian soldiers left in the direction of Filia, but on the way they were attacked by the rebels, who attributed it to the incitement of the monks, so they turned back and took with them the monk and former monk Fr. Ambrose Paparigopoulos and the old monk Christoforos Anagnostaras to lead them to the village. Fr. Ambrosios thought that the Italians would execute them and attempted to escape, but he failed to take cover and was killed by Italian fire.
In August 1943, the Germans passed through the area and set fire to the monastery, which was completely destroyed but did not collapse in its entirety. Even the church of St. Athanasius was not spared from the fire, where the wooden iconostasis, the pews, the holy relics, the icons, the sacred vestments and other ecclesiastical utensils were destroyed.
PRESENT STATE OF THE MONASTERY
From 1948 onwards the monastery began to show signs of life again. The monk Ierotheos Mourtikas, who was sent by Agia Lavra, stayed permanently in the monastery, visited the cells and gave life to it. Shortly afterwards, the Hierodeacon Antonios was added, who was very active and during his days the vineyard of the monastery was planted again, as well as almond and cypress trees. But after some years he left the monastery again and was left alone by the monk Fr. After his death the monastery with some breaks remained deserted. In recent years, with the efforts and donations of the people of Fila and not only them, efforts are being made to restore and promote the historic monastery.
The castles of Filia
An important role in the history of the village is also played by the "castles" of Philia, i.e. the fortified locations used by the Philia for defense against the Turks. They are built in caves in difficult and inaccessible areas.
On April 30, 1826, Ibrahim's troops, after the fall of the heroic Messolonghi that took place on the night between April 10 and 11, 1826, were processed in Patras. After landing there, Ibrahim sent most of his army to the Messinian fortresses via Ilia and he with the rest of the army (7,000 soldiers) headed towards Tripoli via Kalavryta. On his way he applied the "scorched earth" tactic to force the inhabitants of the free regions of the Peloponnese to worship. Wherever he passed, he meant everything. He destroyed fields and villages with the fire. Looting and destroying, he reached the area of the province of Kalavryta. Here he destroyed over 70 villages. In his bloody course he left nothing standing. Massacres, decapitations, looting and burning of villages were daily occurrences. The Egyptian troops were destroying the forests, the vineyards, the fruit trees. They literally left no stone unturned. On their way from the village of Filia, Ibrahim's troops camped on a ridge near the site of Agios Nikolaos, below the village which is still called "Braimi ridge". The newspaper at the time "GENIKI EPHIMERIS TON ELLINON" page 94/22-9-1826 wrote: "The enemy invaded the villages of the two parts of the District of Kalavryta, Katsana and Livartzio, and on the 9th of this month encamped in Daran, extending up to Kamba the mill and the surrounding villages...". From here Ibrahim launches attacks against the surrounding villages, captures many and collects food and animals. So sometimes we see him towards Katsanochoria, Filia, Pagrati, Kleitoria and sometimes towards Hortynia (Karytaina) and the villages of Granitsa, Vytina, Sfyrida". as they also burned the monastery of Agios Athanasios together with its stock in the Paleomonastiros location. The Philae were scattered in the surrounding mountains, confined in caves and forests. Many found refuge in the two fortified positions of the village that had been prepared, in steep and windy fortified positions, during the pre-revolutionary period and were used to hide the Christians from the persecutions of the Turks.
This fort was the so-called "Dragon's Cave" above the metochi of the monastery of Agios Athanasios, which was located in the valley of the Aroani River, northeast of the I. Monastery. It is built on a steep rock and served as a shelter for the inhabitants of Filia and the surrounding villages to hide from the persecution of the Turks and other raiders. Today, Dragos Castle is only accessible by footpath.
The castle of Panagia, located in a cave in a steep rock at the location "Panagias Rema" near the road Filia - Lefkasiou - Kleitoria which is about 4 kilometers from the village of Filia. Inside it there is a ruined church of Panagia.
The Fileiko "fortress" at the location of "Panagias Rema" as seen from the Kletoria - Lefkasiou - Filion road. The wooden staircase that led to the church of Panagia can be seen.
In 1825, during Ibrahim's raid on the area, around 300 women and children were locked up in the Castle of Panagia. Ibrahim's Egyptians tried to burn them by throwing burning bushes from the top of the hill, but failed, as they had on the contrary succeeded in a similar case at Brontama in Sparta. The defenders of the women and children, taking water from the stream of Panagia, managed to put out the fire until the Egyptians left disappointed.