Holy Church of Saint Demetrius

In the center of Nevrokopi there is the church of Saint Demetrius, who was built in 1866 as witnessed by the Metropolitan of Nevrokopi, Nicodemus in 1901. Important historical events are connected to the Church of Saint Demetrius as after the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate, a match was held between them and patriarchal for the assert of it. Until 1899 the Divine Liturgy was chanted for Greeks and Bulgarians in the Greek, but because of Bulgarian claims and attacks the Turks closed the temple. The events got ugly after 1901 where the opening of the church by the Turks and the functioning of the Patriarchal and the Exarchist, sparked intense conflicts between them. Armed groups of Exarchists terrorized the Greeks of the region, thus closing the churches and they murdered the Greek teacher Thomas Papageorgiou. In October 1903 the Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Drama visited Kato Navrokopi and the church was reopened for patriarchal and exarchists, but on the day of the feast of Saint Demetrios 30 armed exarchist arrested in the temple and murdered outside the town the Patriarchal Vicars of the church, John Zafefiou, Nikolaos Germanos, the son of George and the teacher K. Christidis. The bloody incidents continued in 1906, as 300 exarchists surrounded Kato Navrokopi and filled the town with terror for three hours, murdering the patriarchal potentates. The church belongs to the architectural type of a vaulted three-aisle basilica with a twelve- side dome and a three-storey spire. The women"s loft is on the south and north side of the church and ends up in chapels dedicated respectively to Saint Constantine and Helena and to the Assumption of Holy Mary. The iconography of the church, dates back in the 19th century and has been destroyed. The only parts that are preserved are in the arch of the church and in some parts of the sanctuary. The temple is carved wooden of 19th century, and on its top it bears three zones of images and a semicircle with openwork decoration in the width of the the central aisle in which the Cross is found. The most portable images have been illustrated between 1868 - 1873. Some of these are creations of famous painter Georgios Georgiadis from Ano Nevrokopi, present Gortse Delchef. From these, the icon of Saint Demetrios stands out, with its forms of luxurious gold-embroidered costumes. Also the the sanctuary doors, the episcopal throne, the pulpit and the two large carved wooden shrines are of the same age.