Description of the attraction
The Church of the Holy Apostle Simon the Canaanite in the city of New Athos is an interesting architectural structure of the early Middle Ages. It was erected during the heyday of the Abkhazian kingdom (IX-X centuries), and today it is the most unique monument of the Abkhaz school of church architecture, formed under the influence of Byzantine culture.
According to legend, in the middle of the 1st Art. the apostles Simon the Canaanite and Andrew the First-Called entered Apsilia. Andrew the First-Called went further north, and the Apostle Simon the Cananite settled in a stone cave near the Psyrtskha River. Soon the fame of the preaching activity of Simon the Canaanite in the city of Anacopia reached the Roman prefects. Subsequently, the apostle suffered a martyr's death. Local residents, having converted to Christianity, buried the body of the Apostle. A little later, a temple was built on this site, which was the center of the Sebastopol and Anakopia dioceses.
The temple was destroyed several times. In November 1875, the ruins of the temple were transferred into the possession of the New Athos Simon-Canaanite Monastery, after which the monks began to restore it. As a result of the restoration, the monastery underwent some changes: most of the walls were whitewashed, their height was also changed, a new profiled cornice appeared, the drum acquired a round shape, and the dome became onion. A bell tower was built over the western vestibule by the monks. The south and west porticos over the entrances have never been restored. The restoration work in the church was completed at the beginning of 1882. In the same year, its solemn consecration took place.
At present, the monastery of St. Simon the Canaanite is a temple built of white cut stone of medium size. Two Greek early medieval inscriptions have survived on the walls of the church. The first of them is located above the southern entrance to the monastery and dates from the IX-X centuries, and the second is on the eastern facade of the temple.
Today the temple of the Holy Apostle Simon the Canaanite in New Athos is active.
