Guide of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace

Location: Preserved remnants of the church are found at the mouth of Vistonida lake.

The Monument: The church was discovered by D. Lazaridis in 1950. Additional excavation works were conducted by Ch. Bakirtzis during the 80’s. According to the latter, the church was built over the foundations of an Early Christian building and it constituted the Episcopal church of Poros, dating back to the 9th or 10th centuries. It is a quadrilateral building with sanctuary consisting of three semicircular niches and three entrances at the west side leading to the narthex. It is an early, inscribed, cross-in-square type church with baptistery and vestry and it was probably dedicated to Saint Theodores. Parts of the four pillars cab still be discerned, laying on quadrilateral built bases. Some of the slabs of the marble-paved floor can still be found. The altar base was found in the centre of the Sanctuary apse, with estimated dimensions of 1.64 × 0.90 m. The remaining parts of coloured mortar found on the backfilled narthex support the assumption that the church was adorned with religious themes. Two construction phases on the monument can be discerned, according to the excavators, who base this assumption on the existence of the two floors in the church as well as because of the walling of the two side gates and the shortening of the one in the middle. (Photo 26)
There was a cemetery at the northern and eastern side around the church, as indicated by the shaft graves found. These graves, coverd by tufa slabs, did not contain any grave goods. Three copper coins of Maximian Galerius (4th century), Justin II (565-578) and Alexius Comnenus I (1081-1118) were found, among other findings, at the cemetery site.
Archaeological finds in the area where today Porto Lagos is situated, lead archaeologists and historians to the conclusion that the archaeological site of Porto Lagos was either the settlement of Peritheorio or that of Poros, and that the church has always been its centre.
By the end of the 18th century, the church of St Theodores is not mentioned in the written sources, and was probably replaced by the fish farm of Saint Nicolas. The area most likely suffered severe damages and the Metropolis of Poros was probably united with that of Xanthi.

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