In the 1300s Thessaly became a battleground between Serbian Kings and Turkish raiders all vying for supremacy. The monastic communities were particularly vulnerable to this conflict and they decided to ally themselves with Serbia, in exchange of a huge donation, nothing short of a large treasure.

The monasteries contain some of the most beautiful wall paintings and post Byzantine mural art that can be found in Greece. The Katholikon has a twelve sided dome 24 meters in height with a striking series of frescos by Theophanis which depict the persecution of Christians by the Romans. The library is one of the richest in Greece.

Greece has been ruled by the Ottomans for more than 300 years and the Orthodox church was allowed a peaceful existence and prosperity under this rule. Before the Ottomans, Greece had been invaded by the Venetians in early 1200s and the Ottomans invaded Greece only after they conquered Constantinople in 1453 in order to free this neighbouring land of the hostile Venetians. So, in semantics, it appears as if the Ottomans fought the Greeks to acquire their land. But in reality the land in question was part of the Venetian Empire for more than 200 years by then, and the Venetians were the sworn enemies of the Ottomans.

After the sacking of Constantinople in 1204, the Venetians sailed into Greece, conquering all of the Aegean and the Ionian sea and much of the mainland. This was a terrible time for Greece, since many islands suffered greatly from constant pirate attacks and high taxes to be paid to the Venetians (while some people flourished through trade with the Venetians). The church, having no means of trading with the Venetians had to retreat into areas of no interest to the invading enemy.

The tension between the Venetians and Ottomans grew stronger, and the constant crusades against the Turks had created a climate of hostility between the two powers. Greece's geographical position was helping the Crusaders to attack the Turks easily. The sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmet conquered Constantinople in 1453 and a few years later Greece of the Venetian Empire was under Ottoman rule. The Turks drove out the Venetians.

Ottomans played a constructive role in the further development of the Orthodox Church in Greece as there has been a complete freedom of worship under their rule.

To this day, this is a subject of great controversy, since the church traditionally is considered to have preserved the Greek language and culture, while others claim that the church actually benefited from the Ottoman rule by making privileged agreements with the Sultan.

Hermits in the 9th century climbed these rocks to settle in the caves. They lived there happily until the builders came round. By the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was on the wane and the Aegean shores became the playground of the Barbary pirates. Three monks, Gregory, Moses and Athanasius left their monastery in Athos in search for a new home inland. They came to the "miraculous land" of rocks in Thessaly and started building a monastery on a high rock. By the end of the 14th century, the Meteora (suspended in the air, as the chunks of rocks would have appeared from a distance) emerged as the dominant community of Thessaly. Its wealth included landed estates, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, plenty of gold, and works of art. Poor hermits became prosperous monks.

Later, Meteora gradually plunged into a period of disorder. Greek bandits expropriated the income of the monasteries, Vlach squatters settled in them, and a squint eyed monk named Theodore lived with two women dressed as monks in the Monastery of the Pantocrator. Nice one Theodore.

The rock community had a revival only in the 16th Century under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman ruler who gave them a complete freedom in managing their own affairs.

You will find many websites repeating the following examples of nonsense :

During the Ottoman occupation, the monks climbed higher and higher up the rock face until they were living on the inaccessible peaks where they were able to build by bringing material and people up with ladders and baskets.

And during all this climbing and building business which would have taken years, the Ottomans were sitting at the bottom of the rock, enjoying the sunshine and watching the monks working.

The Monastery of Saint Demetrius was destroyed by Ali Pasa in 1810.

Because the priest Thimios Vlahavas was the inciter and the leader of a bloody uprising against the Turks and he was using the monastery as a war-base. Real damage was caused during the WW2 by the Germans and the Italians. The German mortars destroyed the dome of the Almighty. Works of art and gold have been stolen.

During the Ottoman occupation it was the monasteries which kept alive the Hellenic culture and traditions. It is believed that were it not for the monasteries, Hellenic culture would have disappeared and modern Greece would be a reflection of the Ottoman empire.