It is located in a magnificent natural environment, just outside Naoussa on the road to Giannakochori and Rodochori, after Koukouli, while it is 4 kilometers from Naoussa, from the road that starts from the Naoussa Fire Department towards the 3 – 5 Pigadia ski center and a little further it branches off to the right towards Giannakochori.
Although the oldest written evidence of the existence of the Monastery is in 1785, it is certain that it predates that date. This is confirmed by the reports of older and newer scholars, by tradition, as well as by the use of older materials for its construction. The appearance of the sacred figure of Saint Theophan of Ioannina, patron saint of Naoussa, during the 14th century and his connection with the Holy Monastery of the Holy Forerunner of the Skete of Veria is a stimulus for a possible connection with the founding of the homonymous Monastery in Naoussa.
The central church today is a 19th-century building and a three-aisled, slate-roofed, domed basilica with three domes. This variation was a type widespread during the Turkish occupation, especially in Macedonia where the central church is divided into three areas, the narthex, which is raised by 1.35 meters, the main church and the Holy Altar. Its perimeter masonry is 1 meter thick limestone, except for the narthex, whose thickness does not exceed 70 centimeters, and the only arch that protrudes is that of the Sacred Altar, which is externally adorned with seven elaborate blind shallow arches.
Above the western entrance of the central church, a shallow niche is created, on the tympanum of which there is a portable icon of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. In the corresponding niche on the south side, there is a modern icon of the Baptism of Christ.
Outside the central church, various elaborate and impressive relief representations of a cross and rosette can be seen at the western entrance, a cross and a double-headed eagle at the northeastern corner, as well as a double-headed eagle in the niche of the Holy Altar of the central church, which has three entrances with low openings, as was customary at that time.
Internally, the central temple is divided into three aisles with five pairs of columns. The few openings in the central temple allow minimal lighting to pass through, thus creating a unique and special “mysterious” atmosphere. The only spot in the central temple that was found to be painted was the niche of the proskomidis with the theme of “Extreme Humiliation”. The inscription on the illustration, however, paradoxically read “Funeral Lament” and was dated April 18, 1861, a fact that constitutes a strong indication that the central church of the Monastery of the Holy Forerunner was once entirely decorated with icons, but its icons were later covered up.
From the written testimony mentioned above (dating from 1785), it can be concluded that the Holy Monastery was under the spiritual jurisdiction of the diocese of Vodena, of the archdiocese of Ohrid until 1767. With the abolition of the archdiocese in 1767 and the promotion of its dioceses to Metropolises, which were now directly subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, their ecclesiastical territory was also determined, with the Holy Monastery now included in the territory of the kaza (administrative division) of Vodena.
At the beginning of the 19th century, during the Balkan Wars, the Holy Monastery, like the entire region of Naoussa, found itself in the midst of military conflicts. During the destruction of Naoussa in 1822, the Monastery did not escape the burning and destruction in the same year, as well as the loss of all its assets, following confiscation. It was later rebuilt, but suffered another fire in 1842 and was rebuilt again in 1844, as a surviving inscription above the entrance to the central church testifies.
During the Macedonian Wars, it had significant national activity, due to its economic capabilities and its fortified location, and it significantly and regularly supported, with financial contributions from its revenues, the operation of the Greek School and the Girls’ School in Edessa. It also functioned as a liaison for the chieftains between Edessa and Naoussa, as a secret storage area for weapons and supplies, and even became the site of several clashes, particularly in 1905, when it was burned down, but not completely.
After the liberation of Macedonia in 1912-1913, the Holy Monastery of the Holy Forerunner functioned as a “parish”, probably without monks but under the supervision and coordination of some management committees. There is evidence of the presence of monks in the last years of the 1930s, when two monks, probably from the Holy Monastery of Xiropotamos on Mount Athos, settled there. In 1938, the tonsure of the monk Meletios is mentioned, who later, for a long period of time, was also in charge of an informal orphanage in the city of Naoussa.
The Holy Monastery of Timios Prodromos suffered another destruction, by German forces. This time, during the years 1942 – 1943 and from 1950, the Holy Monastery now falls under the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Veria, Naoussa and Campania.
The monastery celebrates the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist on August 29th with a high priestly divine service and with crowds of people flocking from the wider area and beyond. Very interesting is the custom of setting up large cauldrons where the traditional bean stew is boiled and which is shared among the pilgrims, while in the Monastery there is today a very active female monastic sisterhood with the abbess Gerontissa Methodia, a truly saintly figure.
The text is from the Holy Moni
