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| Consecration of the Monastery of the Prophet Elias ofVatheos Ryakos (Feast Day - January 13) |
The Monastery of Vatheos Ryakos (otherwise spelled as Batheos Rhyakos and translated as Monastery of the Deep Stream) was built by Emperor Nikephoros Phokas (963-969) when Ignatios served as second abbot, though it was established by the first abbot Basil under Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennitos (901-959). It is also known as the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior, though commonly known as Soteros or Savior Monastery (Turkish: Aya Sotiri Manastırı). That it is called the Monastery of the Prophet Elias in the Synaxarion of Constantinople is wrong. Perhaps there was rather a church in the monastery dedicated to the Prophet Elias whose consecration was celebrated on January 13, or maybe it was a metochion (dependency) or skete connected to Vatheos Ryakos. The monastery is near modern Tirilye in Turkey (medieval Trigleia in Bithynia). The complex now lies ruined, although some buildings are used by locals as animal shelters.
