Monastery of Agia Eleoussa

Evocative and wildly magnificent, the Holy Monastery of Zoodochos Pigi, better known as Agia Eleoussa of Kleisoura, is well hidden on a steep location in a ravine of Mt. Arakynthos, on the Agrinio - Messolonghi National Road.
According to tradition, in 1700, locals (at the suggestion of a resident who, fleeing from the Turks, hid for a long time in a cave and saw an inexplicable light), discovered the icon of the Virgin Mary, and a spring with water, Her sanctification, a little further away. This is how the current church of Panagia tis Zoodochos Pigi came to be. Built inside the cave, it welcomes crowds of believers both for the silver-plated miraculous icon of Panagia Eleousa and the holy water, supplied from a fountain in the church's forecourt.
Here, the monk Cosmas of Aetolia was offered hospitality as a guest, as testified by a statue of his in the precincts of the monastery, while several historical figures spent time here as monks, including the heroic Giannis Gounaris. A 16-meter-high Cross also rises majestically, indicating that the monastery, celebrating the first Friday after Easter, is considered an important focus of religious life in Etoloakarnania.