The Monastery of the Birth of the Virgin Mary of Klisoura in Kastoria is at an altitude of 970 meters with a spectacular view of a mountain mass around it, at the borders of three prefectures, Kastoria, Florina and Kozani. It is under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Venerable Metropolitan of Kastoria, Mr. Seraphim.
The founding of the monastery is not easy to be calculated. The monastery’s founder and renovator happens to be the Clergyman Isaiah Pistas, from Klisoura (coming from the Monastery of Ivira of Mount Athos), who built, on an older substructure of the 14th or 15th century, the current monastery. An inscription at the entrance of the Catholic, reports as year of renovation the annum 1813.
The building complex of the Monastery is built in a position that provides a relative protection, in a small smooth ridge, between two gullies, organized in a rectangular guarding arrangement of the cells and in the center of a square courtyard, is built the Katholikon (three-aisled basilica rhythm temple, with a dome). The Katholikon is painted with remarkable hagiographies, works by Chionades painters, and also boasts a masterpiece gold-plated wood-carved iconostasis, a work of an earlier era (1772). In the Katholikon, is located, enthroned in the place of pilgrimage, on the left of the Great Gate, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God.
Within the building complex are the chapels of Saint Paraskevi and Saints Constantine and Helen. Besides, at a distance of 150 meters, is situated the chapel of Saint John the Forerunner; at an altitude of 1300 meters is also located the Seat (small hut) of the Holy Trinity (1813), an old hermitage of the Monastery.
The Monastery was the base of Pavlos Melas and the other chieftains during the Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908). It was a refuge for many inhabitants of Klisoura, during the Ottoman domination, during the slaughter of 5 April 1944 by the German-Bulgarians, as well as during the civil war.
In the Monastery there is a female monastic Sorority (1992) under the Elder Ephremia, who works tirelessly with all her strength to restore this important worship center of Western Macedonia, according to the orthodox rite, adhering to the holy rules of the Holy Fathers of the Church, that pertain to the orthodox monasticism, organizing the monastery spiritually and physically, through many difficulties.
The history of the monastery was marked by the presence of the Elder Sophia of Pontus (1927-1974) as an ascetic. Elder Sophia honored God with her sanctifying course and was blessed by God with the grace she received. She was ranked to the Orthodox Church's List of Saints on 4 October 2011 by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Saint Sophia, the ligyra of the “singers of Klisoura”, celebrates on May 6th.
