About Volissos

Volissos is built in the position of a small ancient city which was called either Volissos or Voliskos and it is referred from the tradition as the place where Homer lived. In 412 B.C. the landing of the Athenians occurred in the beach of Volissos who won the renegades from the Chios Alliance and ravaged the area. The homonymous haven was the theatre of warfare against the pirates during the Byzantine Empire.

Today Volissos is the largest village of the Northwest Chios and is 40km far from Chora. It is amphitheatrically built in the slope of a hill on the top of which aByzantine castle of the 11th century is protected and it is really worth a visit. Within a 2km distance you can find the beaches of Volissos, Limnos, Lampsa, Lefkathia,Managros, others which are quieter and others with beach bars and restaurants. At almost the same distance there is the small port of Volissos, the picturesque Limna from which you can take a small boat if you want to visit Psara.

In a distance of 6km from the village of Volissos there is the monastery of Saint Markella, a magnet for the faithful ones. By following the path that starts from the very edge of the beach you can reach the place where Saint Markella witnessed.

Saint Markella is a Saint of the Orthodox Church. She was born and lived during the 14th century in Volissos in Chios. She was raised as a Christian from her mother despite the fact that her father was a pagan.

While being in a young age her mother died andMarkella kept on studying the New Testament, praying to God and living a life according to what she was taught by her.

Her pagan father started desiring his own daughter and having carnal desires for her. When Markella noted her father’s character she abandoned her family home and seek out for a shelter in the mountains of the area. Then her father moving by his beastly cravings and hisindescribable fury started searching young and beautifulMarkella. At that point the frightened daughter tried to protect herself and save her purity. A huge bramble was the Saint’s safe shelter. However, a shepherd saw throughMarkella and showed the bramble to her maniac father. Then her father put fire on the bramble to make her come out. Markella managed to find a way out and so she escaped from her father’s hands. Later on, she started running over the stones and rocks but because he realized that he couldn’t reach her he decided to mark her with his arc. The Saint got hurt and her pure blood covered the rocks.

When she got injured, she prayed to Jesus Christ to hide her. A rock opened and hid virtuous Markella’s body up to her chest. Her father after arriving to the spot whereMarkella was and after seeing this paradoxical miracle he got even more angry and cut with a knife her breasts and threw them to the mountain. Afterwards, he decapitated his daughter and threw her head to the sea. This same rock gushes until today with Holy Water.

The Faithfull’s testimonies refer that her image is miraculous and that when a priest on the 22nd of July, when her memory is celebrated, reads the prayer the water of the sea boils and stops doing that the moment that the priest finishes. This day a huge feast is held and hundreds of worshipers come not only from the island but also from all over the world.