St. Nicholas Monastery (Andros, Greece)

The Monastery of St. Nicholas in Andros was, according to tradition, built in the 8th century though it is not mentioned in any historical books until the 14th century. This monastery has an elaborate architectural structure, including a bell tower and complex arches completed during the recent restoration of the monastery in 1760.
The monastery houses wonderful frescoes and an architecturally superb wooden screen. The Byzantine icon of Panagia Blachernae, donated in the 15th-century by the monastery in Constantinople of the same name, is still kept in here, known in Greece as the Panagia of Andros, a miraculous myrrh-bearing and scented icon of the Virgin of the Root of Jesse.
==Icons==
The Panagia of Andros (the "Root of Jesse") is an ancient and myrrh-streaming icon, always surrounded with a powerful sweet-spicy fragrance. Great wonders occur from this holy icon and myrrh streams from it endlessly. There are even reports that people have been resurrected from the dead through the miracle-working icon. 
There is also an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary that has significantly changed its facial expression over the last few years. The authorship has turned exceedingly sorrowful and tears have been flowing from her eyes. In 1999, this icon cried unceasingly coinciding with the bombardment of Serbia at that time. 
The monastery also houses the icon of St. Nicholas, and some of his relics; the icon was authored by a nun named Leondia who wove her own hair into the icon. According to the locals of this metropolis, this icon is the most active in the entire of Andros.
==Further reading==
*"St. Nicholas Monastery and the Island of the Winds," by Mother Nectaria McLees, The Road to Emmaus, issue #7, 2001, Journal Editor Mother Nectaria McLees. 
:" ... If the Holy Mountain is the garden of the Mother of God, St. Nicholas Monastery is her backyard."
*Evlogeite! A Pilgrim's Guide to Greece, by Mother Nectaria McLees
:A descriptive guide covering over 1,000 active monasteries and churches in Greece along with histories of numerous saints, wonderworking relics and icons, and the miracles associated with them. Includes several maps, photos, lives of saints with their dismissal hymns, several indices, a glossary, English-Greek phrase section and extensive bibliography. Paperback. 949pp. ISBN 978-0971636514
Nicholas
Nicholas