Saint Onoufrios' Catacombs Methoni

The catacombs of Agios Onoufrios in Methoni are a rare example of an early Christian cemetery, the oldest one ever found in Messinia and one only two that exist in Greece.

They are located at the 20th km of the Methoni-Pylos road. Going up to the top of a low hill, you can see a low cave where there are openings carved on the rocky floor, iconography on the walls, carved cisterns oin the soft rock, and arched rooms in which hermits used to live in the 5th century. From avove you can only distinguish the entrance, which is partly concealed by shrubs.

In these underground catacombs, the hermits descended by steps carved into the porous ground. Over the years, its eastern part was destroyed by the Franks and Venetian conquerors when constructing Methoni Castle. As a result, only a few cavities are left in the western slope of the porous rock. It is believed that the remaining part was later used as an ascetic church in honour of St. Onoufrios and had frescoed on all its internal surfaces. Until 1961, when archaeologists became aware of the importance of the catacombs, other hardships occurred, as the cave was also used by shepherds for their flocks. The fires they made unfortunately destroying much of the iconography.