⭐ Travel Guide for Island Crete ⛵, Greece❗

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.

Show Map

Agia Paraskevi Church at Voutas

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 0.00 (0 Votes)

The cemeterial church of Agia Paraskevi is located near the villages Kityros and Voutas. It is a single-aisled vaulted temple and its interiori bears frescoes dating back from 1372-3. Some of the frescoes depict sinners and their punishment.

Church of Saint Onuphrius at Mariou

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 2.50 (2 Votes)

On the mountainside above the village Mariou at south Rethymnon we meet the cavernous church of Saint Onoufrios. The chapel celebrates on June 12 annualy. A relatively good dirt road that starts at the entrance of the village leads to the church. The small cave is located at the base of a steep vertical limestone rock that is home to many with endemic chasmophytes (plants that live or cracks and rocks). From this point the views of the villages and the bay of Plakias is unique.

Kaloidena Monastery at Ano Meros

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.80 (5 Votes)

Above the village Ano Meros, on Kedros mount, there is the old uninhabited Monastery of Kaloidena with the restored Byzantine temple dedicated to Lord Christ. Today, apart from the church, almost nothing reminds the monastery.

Agia Sofia Monastery in Armeni

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.50 (2 Votes)

Agia Sophia is an old abandoned monastery located on the plateau of Armenochantrades. The monastery is surrounded by walls and in the center there still stands the church of Hagia Sophia. All around there are the ruins of the monk cells and some renovated buildings.

Saint John monastery by Kapetaniana

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.00 (3 Votes)

Agios Ioannis (Saint John) settlement is named after the small monastery of Saint John, which is built inside a two-level cave and has very old frescoes, dating back from 1360.

Saint Kiriaki church at Agiofarago

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.50 (2 Votes)

The cavernous chapel of Agia Kyriaki is located at the site of a former Minoan sanctuary. The main characteristic of the temple are the various loops inside the temple, on which the hermits and monks tied themselves during praying so as not to fall asleep. Another explanation for the existence of these loops is that during the years of the Arab rule, the cave was used as a prison and place of torture.

Saint Dimitrios Church at Platanes

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.50 (2 Votes)

The cemetery church of St. Demetrius is located between the two neighborhoods of the almost deserted and uninhabited village Platanes, Selino Province, Chania prefecture. Platanes name means the place with many plane trees. The village is pinned at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level, at one of the most arid and infertile regions of the whole prefecture of Chania.

Panagia Kardiotissa at Agios Thomas

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.33 (3 Votes)

The church of Panagia Kardiotissa is located at the green position Panagia, close to Agios Thomas village. It overlooks the river Axedianos and in winter wateralls are formed at the edge of the churchyard, making it a unique landscape.

Asceticism

Also read: