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The temple of Panaya
of Ekatontapiliani is situated in Parikia, the capital of Paros Island,
a short distance from its port.
It is one of the oldest and the best maintained Christian temples which is to
be found in Greece. Its real name seems to be "Katapoliani" because it
is "towards the city” (kata-polis), that is, towards the ancient city. The
name Ekatontapiliani, which is its official name today, is a creation
by scholars from the 17th century and whose purpose was to give it more worth
and was thus named like the ancient Hundred Gates of Thibes in Egypt.
Many stories have been mentioned about the construction of Ekatontapiliani. The
first mentions that when St. Helen,
the mother of the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Great, went
to Palestine to find the "Holy Cross" her boat docked in Paros. There was a small
temple near the port where Ekatontapiliani is situated today. She prayed in that
temple and made a vow. If she should find the Holy Cross, she would build a big
temple on that site. Her prayer was heard, she found the Holy Cross, and fulfilled
her vow by building this majestic temple. Another mentions that St.
Helen couldn’t fulfill her promise. However she instructed her son,
the Emperor Constantine, to do so and he fulfilled his mother’s vow
by building this temple.
There is a third version, according to which there was no temple on this site
before the 6th century. Emperor Justin however wanted to strengthen the
religious feelings of the residents of this island, who were taken aback by the
raids of pagans, and thus he built this temple we see today in the middle of
the Cyclades islands.
However, during the restoration of the Ekatontapiliani 30 years ago, made by
the unforgettable professor and academic Anastasios
Orlandos, research showed its rightful owners to be Saints Constantine and Helen.
It was proved that there was a church at this site from the 4th century i.e.,
two centuries before the Justinian epoch. Obviously that temple was not in the
form we see today. It was a cross-shaped wooden ceiling basilica which for some
reason, probably fire, was destroyed, and Justin rebuilt it in the style of his
epoch i.e. with vaults and domes. In other words, the temple which the visitor
admires today, is a Justinian temple, whose old building of the apostle - like
Saints Constantine and Helen, was transformed in the sixth century.
The temple of Ekatontapiliani did not remain in the Justinian form throughout
the centuries. During the French and Ottoman occupation it was damaged and plundered.
It was greatly damaged during the invasion of Heridan Barbarossa after
1537, and during the invasion of Moustafa Kaplan Pasha in 1666. However,
the greatest damage was caused by an earthquake in 1733, during which the northern
and western vault and part of the dome were destroyed. During its renovation,
which the Sovereign of Moldovlachia, Nicholas Mavroyenis also financed,
which was done to consolidate it, the extensions inside and outside the temple
had completely distorted its imposing style, and reduced its brightness; its facade took
on a strange shape and was altered into a monumental
gate and three Aegean belfries.
In 1959, however, Professor Orlandos started the restoration of the temple
in the Justinian style and in 1966 it was completed. This great achievement was
fulfilled within seven years thanks to financial support from the State budget,
granted by our fellow citizen Dimitris Aliprantis, who was then Deputy
Finance Minister.