| Toplou Monastery | |
|---|---|
Μονή Τοπλού | |
 General view of Toplou monastery | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Greek Orthodox Church |
| Region | Crete |
| Patron | Virgin Mary and St. John the Theologian |
| Location | |
| Location | Upper Toplou gorge, north coast |
| Municipality | Siteia |
| Country | Greece |
| Geographic coordinates | 35°13′17.1″N 26°12′57.8″E / 35.221417°N 26.216056°E |
| Architecture | |
| Date established | 14th century (ca. 1350) |
| Elevation | 160 m (525 ft) |
Toplou Monastery (Greek: Μονή Τοπλού) is a currently active monastery located in a semi-arid area of the Lasithi regional unit, on the eastern part of the island of Crete in Greece. It is about 6 km (3.7 mi) north of Palekastro and 85 km (53 mi) east of Agios Nikolaos. It is at the base of the Itanos promontory from which Cape Sidero, the easternmost point of Crete, projects to the northeast. The nearest settlements are Sitia to the west and Palaikastro to the southeast; otherwise, the entire promontory is uninhabited except for the modern military reservation at the tip of the cape. In the political structure of Greece, the monastery has been assigned the settlement (oikismos) of Toplou, which it had before 2011, but was validated again in the redivision of 2011. The full civic classification beyond Toplou from 2011 in ascending order is: local community (topike koinoteta) Palaikastro, municipal unit (demotike enoteta) Itanos, municipality (demos) Siteia, regional unit (periphereiake enoteta) Lasithi, region (periphereia) Crete.
Believed to have been founded as early as the 14th century, the monastery was placed on the upper southern slope of Moni Toplou Gorge (named after it), a tortuous, geologically and ecologically interesting ravine exiting into the Sea of Crete through a boulder-strewn declivity called "the Abbott's Beach" (he paralia tou hegoumenou).[1] Today the ravine is one of the reasons why the whole area has been incorporated into Sitia Geopark. The original placement was made near a copious spring draining into the gorge, now the site of a windmill-driven pump raising water out of the water table below.
The monastery was founded at a time when the classical city of Itanus, former owners of the promontory, was long gone, abandoned centuries earlier, and forgotten by all except the monks, who continued to be interested in the site. The Ottoman Empire had not yet become ascendant. For reasons unknown or not generally published the monastery inherited the entire territory of the ancient city, which it holds today as a major asset.[2] A corporation has been created for its land holdings, "The Public Welfare Foundation of Panagia Akrotiriani," a subsidiary of the monastery and the Archdiocese of Sitia. The monastery was originally called Panagia Akrotiriani ("Our lady of the Cape)," a name which apparently is still legally meaningful. Its alternative current name, Moni Toplou, literally means "place of the cannon" (Turkish: top), thus called by the Turks for the cannon then mounted over the door.[3] It had that name since at least 1865, when Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt reported on his survey work in Crete, misrepresenting the name as Greek to plou ("the plou," whatever "plou" might be).
The monastery has this entire time been economically and politically proactive. The monks, dressed in blue robes, under the direction of the Abbott, run a number of businesses. As the main road from Sitia to Vai runs through the premises, the monastery is open to the public for an entrance fee. Temporary hotel space is also available. Within the main gate are a store and a museum. The museum is a repository for many works of art, containing also collections of manuscripts. On the outside, much of the land around the monastery buildings is used for viticulture and dendriculture. They manufacture and export wine and olive oil. The real estate company is currently negotiating other uses of the promontory, but the chief obstacle is the conservation-minded government. Similarly, the cape is theirs but its use is reserved to the military. Some high points of their political proactivity are their support of resistance to the Ottoman Empire and to the Nazi occupation of Crete.
- ^ A secret passage led from the monastery through a cave into the ravine providing hidden access and escape. The German discovery of its use as a radio station by the resistance in World War II led to dire consequences for the monks.
- ^ A study of the monastery's land acquisition remains to be done. Meanwhile the main speculations are that the acquisitions date to the 15th century when under the Venetian policy of building up the monastery as a defensive bastion against the Turks it was allowed to acquire smaller monasteries in the vicinity. In another speculation land-holders under Turkish rule, which was given into the hands of the corrupt janissaries, deeded the land to the monastery to avoid paying taxes to the janissaries. There is no doubt that the monastery received many bequests, but an evidential account waits for the study.
- ^ Mackridge 2020, p. 380, Ch. 31 Toplou "Toplou is, however, Turkish and means the Place of the Top or Cannon from a cannon which was at one time mounted over the door of the monastery." The circumstantial details of the cannon, however, have been lost. Only speculation is available on the Internet. Some suppose that it was for general defense; others, that it was a signal gun warning the population of raiders. Some see the permission to own it as a Turkish conciliatory license; others as a Venetian defense against the Turks. The only points of general agreement are that the name is Turkish and is not modern. There are no traces of it now.