In one of the greenest areas of Crete, Amari, at the hilltop of Veni hill you will meet the deserted monastery of Saint Anthony and the homonym cavernous temple celebrating on January 17.
The arrival of Saint John the Hermit in Crete of the Early Christian Times was the beginning of a great ascetic tradition that continues to the present day. Hundreds of hermits secluded in the most remote parts of the island, forming ascetic communities that later evolved to thriving monasteries. Hundreds of countryside monasteries, most of which don't operate today, are dispersed throughout the island.
A special sample of hermitage is the Monastery Katholiko at Akrotiri Cape in the caves of which hermits lived their monastic life away, from worldly pleasures. Equally important were the religious sites of the secluded peninsulas Gramvousa and Rodopos, where several small monasteries developed.
The greatest hermitage of all was the naturally isolated, and impassable range of Asterousia in southern Heraklion. Hundreds of caves from Saint Nikitas to Cape Lithino still host hermits. Relations between them were so limited that in Agiofarago and Martsalo they gathered only once a year, in cave Goumenospilio and counted how many of them survived each year.
In eastern Crete, the north province of Mirabello is the largest field of asceticism with dozens of small monastic establishments. Here hermits built small monasteries, where they usually lived alone.
The church of St. George at Finokalis was the temple of a nunnery founded in the 14th century, which seized its operation in the 1980s. Impressive is the slope of the walls of the temple, which would have collapsed by a landslide if not supported. The church bears valuable frescoes of the 14th century.
The current deserted monastery of St Savas is located at a degraded location of Heraklion (next to the industries of cement and fuel at Ellinoperamata). The monastery was founded in the 10th century by Nicephorus Phocas.
The now deserted monastery of St. Onoufrios is built on a steep ravine with vertical cliffs, next to a spring with cool water. Around the cavernous church we see the derelict cells of the monks. The church celebrates on 12 June.
The unknown monastery of St. Anthony at Akrotiri, deserted today, lies near the Monastery Gouverneto, from where a path starts. The monastic complex with the cavernous chapel of St Anthony wasof exquisite architecture, but today endures the abandonment and is left in the hands of the shepherds who use it as a pen!
The monastery of Panagia Karydiani is an unknown, but historic monastery located 6km west of Mythi village, on the southern slopes of Lasithi Mountains. The monastery is situated in an elevated area (at an altitude of 750m) with incredible views to sea and mountain. It belongs to the monastery of Faneromeni.
The church of the Virgin ‘Panagia Vrefotrofos’ (the protector of infants) is located in the center of the city of Agios Nikolaos, near the sea. It's construction dates back from the 12th century and it bears frescoes of the 14th century.
At the wider area of Vamos, at the side of the Venetian village Karydi Kartsomado and within close distance from the monastery of St. George in Karydi, we meet the ruins of the small abandoned monastery of Panagia at Katomeri.
