Day trip from Athens to Agia Theodora Vasta Arcadia

It is characterized as a miracle of nature as on top of a small Byzantine church there are 17 oak trees whose roots are nowhere to be seen, while the waters of a headwater spring from its foundations. This phenomenon must be due to the fact that the church is stone and vaulted with enough soil content. In this small amount of soil, a holly first grew, which slowly grew and dropped its own fruits. So on the roof of the church grew several holly trees, maples and chickpeas and then the 17 oaks that popular tradition attributed to a miracle.

Regarding the historical truth there are several beliefs. One theory holds that Saint Theodora was Augusta Theodora, daughter of Emperor Constantine VIII of the Macedonian dynasty, who is said to have reigned as a male from 1055 to 1056. Augusta Theodora according to the claims of her successor Michael VI the Military with movement she fell seriously ill and died, while others speculate that he himself murdered her and buried her here. However, according to tradition, Saint Theodora, in order to cover the obligations of her family, disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Byzantine army as “Captain Theodoris”.
There, following a conspiracy, he was unjustly accused of unlawful acts and was killed on the spot. The martyr testified for her faith and was executed here by her persecutors. Shortly before he was executed, he prayed: “…Lord, make my body a Temple, my hair trees that testify to your protection in my purity and my blood water to water them. Amen”.[3] And so it happened, after her death these seventeen trees grew, as many as her years, which withstand every wind