Asceticism

Saint Anthony is the central temple of Myrtos. The temple is small, single-nave and dedicated to St. Anthony and the Ascension of Christ. We don’t know the exact date of its foundation, but it is surely mentioned on a map of the early 15th century and is believed to have been built before 1200.

The small church of St. Constantine and Helen is located west of the village Avdou, on the boundaries with the dam of Aposelemis. It is a single aisled vaulted church with its interior adorned with frescoes of the brothers Emmanuel and Ioannis Fokas, very important representatives of Constantinople art in Crete.

In the deserted village Drakiana, near the lake of Agia and in the banks of Keritis river, we meet the small Byzantine church of Saint George (Agios Georgios Methystis) bearing traces of frescoes of the Venetian Era and hosting a grave. The church celebrates on November 3, when the barrels with wine are first opened.

Monastery of Fraro or St. Anthony' in Simeti is located 1km west of Neapolis. It is a ruined Franciscan convent dedicated to San Antonio. The name comes from the Latin word Frari, as the meaning Franciscan friars were called.

The church of St. George is located at village Ano Symi. The church with the beautiful frescoes of the painter Manuel Fokas (1453) was originally single-nave and later was added a lateral narthex.

The church of St. John the Divine is located at position Foti by Gerakari and was the temple of a small monastery. It bears frescoes of two phases: the 13th century and 14th-15th century.

The highly impressive temple of St. Fanourios at Kitharida, currently used as a cemetery, was the temple of an important male monastery of Panagia Eleousa (Our Lady the Merciful). The monastery was a dependency of the Monastery of Saint Irene.

The very old monastery of Saints Constantine and Helen is built at the entrance of the village Dories near Neapolis, at an altitude of 480m. The monastery is no longer inhabited, but the church is used by the parish of the village.