⭐ 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.

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Agios Fotios and Anikitos Church

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In an area literally hidden in olive trees and other trees below the village Selia, province St. Basil of Rethymnon we meet the temple of Saints Fotis and Anikitos. The chapel is reached through a dirt road from Sellia village. The church is small, oblong and single-spaced and with really austere exterior. The whole temple over the years has taken a strong slope since the area has probably collapsed and so the church leans on the sides.

Church of Archangel Michael at Episkopi

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One of the many churches in the village Episkopi is that of Michael the Archangel. The temple was probably originally dedicated to the Synaxis of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel (celebr. Nov 8), as they both are illustrated with an embossed halo.

Church of the Holy Apostles at Agios Mironas

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The Church of the Holy Apostles is located at village St Myron and is a single-nave vaulted church bearing frescoes with intense funeral subjects. It is the only church in which the frescoes were painted on cloth (canvas), later pasted on the walls of the temple.

Saint Anthony Eunuch

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The small single-nave church of St. Anthony Eunuch is well hidden in a wooded location of Agios Thomas, next to Domaine Stratakis. The temple dates back from the Venetian Era and bears no frescoes.

Church of Saint Andrew by Odigitria monastery

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The church of Saint Andrew is located at location Kaka Pila and was built in the 14th-15th century and is a dependency of Panagia Odigitria Monastery near Sivas. It bears frescoes in good condition.

Church of Saint George at Habatha

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At one of the most isolated and unknown villages of Apokoronas province, called Hambatha we meet the cemeterial church of St. George Methystis (i.e. St George that makes people drunk). Hambatha is a very small village built high on a hillside with a panoramic view, surrounded by woods of ancient cypress trees and very dense vegetation.

The cells of Nuns at Giouchtas (Kelia Kalogradon)

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Many believed that somewhere in Jiouktas lived once the Apostle Paul. Indeed, within walking distance from the church of Christ there are the remains of a very interesting building that is connected to the hermitage of St. Paul.

Church of Holy Trinity at Archanes

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The district of Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) at Arhanes takes its name after the church of the Holy Trinity of the 14th century. The frescoes of the church have been restored.

Asceticism

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