⭐ 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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Panagia Kera church at Kritsa

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One of the most popular Byzantine monuments in Crete (13th- 14th A.D.) is located in Logari, one kilometre east of Kritsa. This triple-nave Byzantine church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to Saint Anthony and Saint Anna. It is adorned with superb wall paintings on particular themes like the representation of Saint Anna, other icons of the saints, and the fourteen scenes depicting the secret life of the Virgin Mary.

Savvathiana Monastery near Rogdia

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The monastery of Savatiana or Savvathiana is located in a beautiful wooded and well-protected position near Rogdia, at an altitude of 440m and at a distance of 20km west of the city of Heraklion. The monastery is one of the several monasteries that operated in the area during the Venetian period, which was later mercilessly destroyed by the Turks.

Agios Nikolaos Monastery at Zaros

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The monastery of Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) is located just off the beautiful canyon Gafaris (or Rouvas), about 48km southwest of Heraklion and 3km north of Zaros village. It is situated at the point where in 1994 a great fire burnt much of the beautiful pine forest of the gorge.

Agios Panteleimon Monastery in Fodele

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The monastery of Saint Panteleimon is located 25km west of Heraklion and 3km south of Fodele, in a wooded area of orange and olive groves. The monastery was built with fortress architecture. Today a part of the walls and the beautiful entrance to the monastery are preserved.

Rodia monastery

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The nunnery of Rodia, known as Holy Monastery of the Virgin Mary was founded in 1990 by the Bishop Nektarios Papadakis. The region of the monastery belonged to Agapi Sbokou, who donated that to the Archdiocese of Crete in order to found the monastery.

Halevi Monastery at Chromonastiri

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Panagia Halevi monastery is located about 6km south of Rethymnon, on the way to Chromonastiri. It's another Venetian monastery of Crete, which is deserted and surely worth restoring.

Pantanassa Monastery near Rogdia

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Pantanassa monastery (Panagia Pantanassa) is built atop a pine covered hill beside the sea at an altitude of 30m, about 14km west of Heraklion. It is a relatively new female monastery dedicated to the Nativity of Mary (celebr. on September 8).

Saint George Monastery at Karydi

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The Monastery of Saint George in Karydi (in Apokoronas Province) is located about 2km east of Vamos village. The monastery was abandoned for many years but was restored in 1996 and today it is operating normally. The monastery is unique to Apokoronas province and is the most interesting monument of folk architecture in the prefecture of Chania.

Asceticism

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