Monastery of Rousanos is located between the monasteries of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas and Varlaam, on the road from the village of Kastraki to Meteora. It is built on an impressive vertical column, and its building complex covers the entire plateau of the top of the steep rock, of which looks like a natural end. The pilgrim and visitor, from over there, enjoys all the splendor and magic of the unrepeatable meteoric landscape, and the faithful Christian, feels momentarily elevated and lifted to the skies, where the souls of the voyagers and the hermits are and exult, who, with their ascetic life and their actions, consecrated these blessed rocks. To the east, one can see the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, and Saint Stephen’s a little further, west of the Monastery of Varlaam, and the Great Meteoro’s further on. All around lies the stony forest of innumerable and gigantic rocks and, in the background, the mountainous volumes of Koziakas and Pindos.
The ascent to the monastery, which was formerly made by a rope ladder, is now made comfortable with steps of cement and two small solid bridges, built in 1930 with the donation of Daphne G. Bouka from Kastraki, under Metropolitan of Trikki and Stagoi, Polykarpos. Already since 1868, for the easiest and safer ascent to the monastery, under the abbot Gedeon, a wooden bridge had been built, replacing the dangerous rope ladders.
The Monastery of Rousanos, after its recent, radical renovation and restoration in 1980 by the pertinent Archaeological Service of the area (7th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities), operates as a nunnery, under the spiritual protection and with the patriarchal care of the Eminent Metropolitan of Trikki and Stagoi, Mr Alexios.
Since the beginning of this century, the monastery has begun to be abandoned and deserted. For nearly 20 years, and until 1971 when she deceased, lived there alone the pious elder woman from Kastraki, Efsevia.
The cause of the appellation of the Monastery of Rousanos is not ascertained. Various interpretations have been proposed, most of which do not fit things. This name is probably due to the first settler of the rock or to the builder of the old original temple. The monastery of Rousanos is mentioned with this name in official documents and texts from the third decade of the 16th century, which means that the rock was formerly known under that name.
The monk Polykarpos Ramidis, former abbot of the Monastery of the Great Meteoros, in his story about Meteora (1882), writes that the rock of Rousanos was first inhabited in 1388 by a hieromonk named Nikodimos, accompanied by his co-ascetic Venediktos. But this information is not based on any historical testimony and source, and that is why it cannot be taken into account.
The monastery took its current building form in the third decade of the 16th century. The monastery consists of a three-storey complex, with the katholikon and cells on the ground floor, and with reception rooms, archontariki (hostel of the monastery) and other cells and auxiliary spaces on the floors.
An official and unique document for the reconstruction and the general history of the Monastery of Rousanos, is the testament of its builders, the siblings hieromonks from Giannena, Ioasaf and Maximos. This is the no. 1465 by the National Library of Athens, written in parchment (0.47 x 0.40 m.), which in 1882, together with other meteoric manuscripts, fortunately not many, at the order of the then Government, was removed from the monastery and moved to Athens.
The text, at the end, shows small discontinuities due to wear of the parchment. That is why the chronology is incomplete, which, however, is supplemented with certainty by other internal elements of the text. Thus, by combining the inscribed with the one memoralized as the late, when the testament was written, the metropolitan of Larissa, Visarion, since he is referred to as the archpriest then, completes the chronology and ends safely in the year 1545. The mentioned here Visarion, the Metropolitan of Larissa and commissioner of the episcopacy of Stagoi, which was widowed then, is undoubtedly identified with Visarion II, the famous holy hierarch and founder of the Monastery of Dousikos, who was elected metropolitan of Larissa in March 1527 and died on 13 September 1540.
Because, according to the relevant inscription, in November of 1560, when the wall painting of the catholic (katholikon) was finished, abbot was the hieromonk (priestmonk) Arsenios, we must accept that this year the monastery’s builders Ioasaf and Maximus weren’t alive. Therefore, only the year 1545 remains as the indisputable date in which their testament was written.
So the brothers from Giannena, hieromonks Ioasaf and Maximos, imitating the example of their compatriots, priestmonks (hieromonks) Nektarios and Theophanis of Apsarades, who, since 11 /1510 were already settled in the stone-city of Stagoi, requested and received permission from the supervisor of the Bishopric of Stagoi, the Metropolitan of Larissa, Vissarion II, and from the abbot of the Monastery of Great Meteoro, to settle down, and live a monastic life, to one of the rocks of Meteora. They were then given the stone of Rousanos. This happened after March of 1527 and before August of 1529, because only during this short period of time, Visarion II of Larissa was also serving as the supervisor of the bishopric of Stagoi. The specifying of the time of the ascent of hieromonks Ioasaf and Maximos on the rock of Rousanos is of particular importance because it is directly related to the history and the dating of the catholic and the other buildings of the monastery.
According to the writings in the text of their testament, once settled in the pillar of Rousanos, the two brother hieromonks, developed a particular building activity there. They rebuilt, from its foundations, the ruined and destroyed by the waste of time and the abandonment, old catholic of the monastery, the Temple of the Transfiguration of the Savior, and gave it the form it has today. They built cells for the monks and other auxiliary spaces, supplied their monastery with sacred vessels, vestments, manuscripts and other ecclesiastical heirlooms, and secured property for it. They organized the monastery in a strict commune, and finally, they defined the relations and obligations of the monastery and the monks, to each bishop of Stagoi and to the abbot of the Monastery of the Great Meteoro, who would have only spiritual jurisdiction and supervision of the monastery. All monks of Rousanos were obliged, according to the provisions of the testament, to strictly observe the terms of equality, commons and indigence. Even if the relatives of the founders were going to stay there, they would have no special and privileged treatment.
After the hieromonks Ioasaf and Maximos ascended to the rock of Rousanos, between 1527 and 1529, we must accept that around 1530 they built the present katholikon and some cells as well as other places of the monastery. Because, coming up there, they found only remains and ruins, as they themselves narrate in their testament, and so they were obliged to build as quickly as possible a temple for their functional needs, and cells, for housing and accommodation. That is why we believe that the view that was accepted until today is not correct, namely that the monastery's catholic (katholicon) was built just before 1545, the date when the builders’ testament was drafted. It is also apparent from the very text of the testament that it had already been a long time since the establishment of the two brother hieromonks in the rock, because, when referring to their formerly good relations with the abbot of the Monastery of Great Meteoro, they note: and of course, our relations with each other have always been peaceful and without scandals.
The katholikon here is of Mount Athos type, as well as most of the other meteoric monasteries. The main church is a cruciform two-aisled, with a dome in the center and two lateral niches, the dances, left and right. The dome is polygonal, with windows, and hulks with its height throughout the elegant monastic complex. The sanctuary, for reasons of rock formation, is facing the north. The interior narthex (lite), before the main temple, is covered with a large single dome.
The temple is dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Savior. But in the monastery here, with remarkable grandeur and reverence, the memory (4 December) of Saint Varvara is honored and celebrated, with an influx of the faithful of the region.
The inscription does not give the name of the painter, but he must have been very important since the hagiography of the main church and narthex of this monastery is one of the brightest frescoes of post-Byzantine painting in the second half of the 16th century. These frescoes are stylishly owned by the Cretan School. Both the narthex and the main temple are full painted.
The northern wall of the narthex, over the entrance to the main temple, covers the imposing and multifaceted composition of the Second Coming over the Preparation of the Throne with the Forerunner and the Virgin kneeling left and right, and Christ at the top, down to the center three angels, of which, the middle one holds the yoke of justice and the first one holds a trident. In the dome is narrated the Pantocrator, and around him are youths and virgins, elders of newer, who praise him and glorify him. The large surfaces of the other walls of the narthex are covered by the usual martyrdoms of saints (Georgios, Dimitrios, Nestor, Eugenios, Mardarios, etc.) as well as full body forms of saints, ascetics and hermits.
In the main temple, above the entrance, is the multi-faceted representation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Right and left of the gate stand, watchful guards, full body and imposing, the Archangels of the Upper Powers Michael and Gabriel. In the dome, as is well established, the Pantocrator is narrated. On the sides of the dances, high, the Metamorphosis and the Resurrection of Christ are depicted, while full-body, military soldiers below. The rest of the walls are recorded with the performances of the Dodecaorton and with scenes from the life of Christ and Virgin Mary. Among the other saints depicted, are the great composers of the Church, Saint Cosmas, The god-inspired guitar of the Spirit, and Saint John Damascene, the sweet-voiced singer.
In the middle of 16th century, the Monastery of Rousanos, a library workshop, must operated here, with the major known code-writer, around 1565, monk of the monastery of Rousanos, Parthenios. The formerly (until 1909), approximately 50 codes of the monastery have been incorporated and now belong to the collection of manuscripts of the Holy Trinity.
From time to time, the monastery served as a shelter and refuge for persecuted individuals and families during the various historical adventures of the Nation. Thus, according to a remembrance of the year 1757, many of the people of Trikala, who were hunted by the Turkish Pasha, resorted to this monastery. But in 1897, after the unfortunate Greek-Turkish war, many families of Kalampaka and Kastraki asked for asylum and found warmth and security in the hospitable roof of the Monastery of Rousanos.
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