The Church of the Transfiguration of Soter Christ at Papiana

The Church of the Transfiguration of Soter Christ is located at Papiana in the Municipality of Kalloni, dating to 1600, according to the ktetor’s inscription. This is a single-space clay-tiled roof church with a narthex built in the Ottoman period. The eastern wall has two square niches into the wall on each side of the apse. Next to the northern apse is used as a prothesis (Table of Oblation), while there is one more square recess serving as an auxiliary space. The church is built with uncut stones bonded together with timber-frame construction. The entire church is covered with a wooden roof. The present roof is the result of reconstruction. Entrance into the church is through two doors on the southern side leading to the nave and the narthex respectively. A single-lobe window is in the center of the north wall and one double-lobe window in the concha. In order to increase the sunlight inside the church’s altar, the amphikionion (double-pillar mullion) had to be removed. Along the entire length of the south wall there was a low-lying stone bench. The same side may have been possibly bolstered by wooden arcade. The church’s interior is full of wall paintings comprising one of the most beautifully painted and better preserved examples on Lesvos, composed mainly in the 16^th and the 17^th centuries. The iconographic program is rich and follows the overall traditional organization and composition with scene from the 24 Oikoi of the Akathist Hymn and isolated depictions of saints of the Orthodox Church.