Church of St Matrona in Katavasi
Hagiological sources state that St Matrona Chiopolitis was born in Volissos at the end of the 14th century. Having refused to marry, she decided to become a monk and lived in isolation in the environs of the village of Katavasi. That’s where she established her first hermitage and devoted herself to prayer and ascesis. However, she eventually heeded her parents’ pleas and returned to live with them until their deaths. After that, she abandoned the secular world entirely and donated all her property to the poor. She died on 20 October 1455, the feast day of St Artemios.
A church dedicated to St Matrona stands in the village of Katavasi. The initial small structure currently serves as a cemetery church, while the larger structure, which dates to later, is the parish church. Visitors and pilgrims from throughout the island flock to Katavasi to commemorate St Matrona on her feast day, 20 October. A Holy Liturgy is held on the same day in honour of the saint in the church of Panagia of Pacheia in Kampos.
Monastery of St Matrona of Chalandra
Chios also has another prominent pilgrimage site for St Matrona, a monastery located north-east of the village of Mesa Didima in the Mastichochoria. it was established in 1470 by a local archon, Roidis, after the saint miraculously presented herself to him in a dream. Roidis had intended to erect a tower at the location, but after being visited by St Matrona Chiopolitis in his dream, he decided to build a monastic complex dedicated to her instead. In fact, the first two nuns who lived here where his two sisters. The monastery was the home of the hosios Nikephoros of Chios, who composed the service of the Lauds (24 oikoi) for St Matrona. The monastery commemorates her memory on 20 October. St Matrona Chiopolitis is a beloved saint throughout the Aegean, with followings on Samos, Ikaria and Santorini among others.
The monastery was sacked and looted by the Turks during the 1822 massacre, and in the aftermath the holy relics kept there eventually ended up in Bursa. Currently most of the relics, together with the liturgical vessels and codices of the monastery are preserved at Mt Athos, while some of the relics are kept at the Holy monastery of St Nikolaos of Imerovigli on Santorini.