Reference is made to the Chapel of St. Minas and the Virgin Mary Pandanassa in the inventories of Chandax churches in Venetian times. Having fallen into disuse for many years, in 1735 it was renovated to become the cathedral, thenceforth serving as the main centre for the Orthodox Christian faithful in Ottoman Chandax.

The first cathedral of St. Minas is linked to one of the most horrendous moments in the city's history, as well as to the miracle of 1826. One year after the destruction wrought by the major earthquake in 1856, the church was rebuilt yet again, a bell being added for the first time.

Saint Minas and Pandanassa


biographies

The former cathedral known as "Small St. Minas" and the Virgin Mary Pandanassa, 2003 (photograph: Vassilis Kozonakis)
The icon of the Presentation of Our Lord in the tympanum of the chapel of St. Minas, 2003 (photograph: Multimedia Lab)
"Small St. Minas" and the Virgin Mary Pandanassa, 2007 (photograph: Yiannis Harkoutsis)