The parish church of a hill village in central Chios began as the main church of a Byzantine monastery, built on the model of the Katholikon of Nea Moni. Rebuilt and enlarged in the nineteenth century, burned in 1822, hidden for decades under concrete render, it was restored between 2014 and 2019 and reopened for worship at the end of August 2026.
At a glance
The village of Agios Georgios Sykousis stands on a natural mound on the central ridge of Chios, looking down on the Kampos plain and across the strait to the coast of Asia Minor. It takes its name from its church. According to the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chios, the oldest part of the building was put up as the katholikon, the main church, of a monastery in the middle Byzantine period, most probably in the twelfth century. It belongs to the “insular” type of domed octagon whose prototype is the Katholikon of Nea Moni (1042), a few kilometres to the north. Nineteenth-century additions changed its shape so much that for a long time the Byzantine core could hardly be seen; the restoration completed in 2019 brought back its brickwork and four layers of wall paintings.
Key facts
- Where: Agios Georgios Sykousis, central Chios, about 12 km by road from the town of Chios
- Built: middle Byzantine period, most probably twelfth century, as a monastery katholikon; first recorded in 1259 in a chrysobull of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, as a dependency of Nea Moni
- Type: “insular” domed octagon, with a twelve-sided dome, on the model of the Katholikon of Nea Moni
- Later phases: restored in 1518 by the monk Sofronios Sepsis; enlarged in the early nineteenth century (relief plaque dated 1815); burned in the massacre of 1822 and repaired, with a carved wooden altar screen dated 1 June 1836
- Protection: declared a historic monument in 1959 (Government Gazette 92/B, 9 March 1959), with a zone of building control around it from 1965, according to published accounts; we have not been able to read the gazette itself
- Restoration: roof repaired 2012–2013; full restoration and conservation of the wall paintings 2014–2019, co-funded by the North Aegean regional programme 2014–2020
- Reopened: last Sunday of August 2026, in the presence of Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria
- Coordinates: 38.320874, 26.057486 · open in Google Maps
History
The church was built as the main church of a monastery, most probably in the twelfth century. Its first written mention comes from 1259, when a chrysobull, a gold-sealed charter of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, lists it among the dependencies of Nea Moni, the great imperial monastery founded on Chios in the eleventh century. By the early sixteenth century the monastery was in ruins. In 1518 the monk Sofronios Sepsis restored the church and gathered the first inhabitants of the village around it; the village still counts its history from that year and celebrated five hundred years in 2018.
In the early nineteenth century the church was radically altered. Spaces were added to the north and south, and a marble plaque with a relief of Saint George slaying the dragon was set over the main west door; its inscription records the renovation and the date 1815. Seven years later, during the massacre of Chios in 1822, the church was burned by Ottoman troops. It was repaired with money collected from the villagers, according to a document of 1842 by Sofronios, metropolitan bishop of Chios, and the wooden altar screen in the Byzantine part, dated 1 June 1836 by an inscription, belongs to that repair. In the course of these nineteenth-century works the west and north walls of the Byzantine church were taken down and replaced by a barrel-vaulted aisle to the west and a north aisle under cross vaults carried on columns.
Greek law protected the church under the antiquities act of 1932, and according to published accounts it was declared a historic monument in 1959, with a zone of building control drawn around it in 1965. For much of the twentieth century its fronts were covered in thick concrete render. A first campaign in 2012–2013 repaired the roof and showed that the twelve-sided dome, long thought to have fallen in the earthquake of 1881, was in fact the original one. The main restoration, carried out between 2014 and 2019 under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture’s Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments, removed the renders and consolidated the masonry, while the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chios uncovered and conserved the wall paintings. After about sixteen years closed, the church was reopened for worship on the last Sunday of August 2026 by Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria; the benefactor Nikolaos Vafeias and his family paid for a large part of the work.
What you see
We have not found a free photograph of the church that we could publish, so this description follows the Ephorate’s account of the restoration. The Byzantine core is a domed octagon of the type found on Chios and its neighbouring islands. It differs from Nea Moni in how the dome is carried on the east side: here a raised barrel vault over the sanctuary apse takes the weight, where at Nea Moni the load rests on a shallow conch. With the render gone, the fronts show the features that link the building to the architecture of Constantinople: masonry in the recessed-brick technique, blind arches, shallow niches, brick arches and a wealth of decorative brickwork with ceramic quatrefoils. The joints between the old walls and the later additions keep traces of a pinkish render, which may mean the Byzantine church was plastered from the start or at some later stage.
Inside, the removal of oil paint and modern plaster revealed four successive layers of wall painting, now mostly fragments. The oldest, Byzantine, survives in the three-part sanctuary: part of an Ascension, a narrative scene, frontal portraits of bishops, two scenes of the Agony in the Garden in the diakonikon, monks and saints in the prothesis, and a youthful figure, perhaps an angel, below the dome. A Deesis in the apse may date from the renovation of 1518. The eighteenth-century layer covers the Byzantine core with the Holy Trinity, the Man of Sorrows, scenes of the Great Feasts in the niches below the dome, the forefathers of Christ in the pendentives and, in the south-east niche, an unusual Saint George and the Dragon, all framed in moulded stucco. The nineteenth-century layer, spread over the whole church, is ornamental: flowers, painted marble and medallions of saints.
Practical information
- The church is the parish church of the village and is used for worship; visitors should respect services and dress accordingly.
- After the reopening of August 2026 the works were reported as not yet fully handed over by the Ministry of Culture; opening hours outside services are not published, and it is best to ask in the village.
- The Ephorate of Antiquities of Chios has published a leaflet on the restoration in Greek and English.
Getting there
Agios Georgios Sykousis lies on the central ridge of the island, about 12 km by road from the town of Chios, at an average height of about 360 metres. The provincial road from the town of Chios climbs to it through Zyfias, and the village is served by the island’s KTEL buses. The church stands inside the village; the streets of the old centre are narrow and best walked.
Nearby
- Nea Moni of Chios, the eleventh-century monastery whose katholikon was the model for this church, about 6 km to the north as the crow flies.
- The ruined Genoese tower-house of Agios Georgios Sykousis, beside the chapel of Saint John the Baptist just east of the village.
- The Kampos, the plain of citrus orchards that spreads below the village towards the east coast.
Do you know more?
On this page we have published what the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chios and the press have documented about this church. We have no photograph we are free to publish — of the Byzantine fronts uncovered in 2017, of the dome, or of the wall paintings — and we have not been able to read the 1959 declaration in the Government Gazette. If you know more — an old photograph, a document, the story of the village and its church, a book that mentions them — or if you can send us a photograph of the church, write to Sofia, who looks after these pages.
Write to Sofia or send a message on WhatsApp
Please start your message with the title of this page, so it reaches the right file. Every contribution is checked against independent sources before it goes on the page, and we always say where a piece of information came from.
Sources
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Chios, The Church of Saint George in the settlement of Saint George Sykoysis on Chios Island: the Restoration Project and the Conservation of the Wall Paintings, leaflet, text by Parisianthi Valakou, 2019 (Greek edition): dating, the chrysobull of 1259, Sofronios Sepsis in 1518, the plaque of 1815, the fire of 1822 and the repairs, the altar screen of 1836, the architecture, the restoration campaigns of 2012–2013 and 2014–2019, and the four layers of wall painting.
- discoverchios.gr, “Virtual tour of Agios Georgios Sykousis”: protection under Law 5351/1932, declaration as a historic monument in 1959 (Government Gazette 92/B/9.3.1959) and the control zone of 1965.
- ERT News, North Aegean regional service, 4 September 2026: the reopening on the last Sunday of August, about sixteen years of closure, the Vafeias family’s contribution, works not yet fully handed over.
- Orthodox Times, 1 September 2026: the reopening by Patriarch Theodore II and the donation of Nikolaos Vafeias.
- Alithia (Chios), 9 August 2018: the five hundred years of the village and the lectures on the church’s wall paintings and architecture.
- Wikipedia (el), Agios Georgios Sykousis: the village, its position and distance from the town of Chios. kastra.eu: the Genoese tower-house.
- OpenStreetMap: position of the church building in the village (way 403281977), identified from above by its polygonal dome.
- The 1959 declaration rests on secondary accounts; we have not been able to consult the Government Gazette or the Ministry of Culture’s list of declared monuments directly.
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