Monastery Katholiko, Chania, Greece - Abbeys, Convents and Monasteries on Waymarking.com

The waymark is on the Akrotiri part on the North-East of Chania.

You will have to walk from the parking lot of Gouverneto Monastery for 30 min down into the Avlaki gorge. The path is plastered and quite easy to walk, but has quite a lot steps (200 m height difference which has to be taken in consideration for your return !)


The Katholiko Monastery, also known as Monastery of St-John the Hermit was probably built shortly after 1600. But the legend says that there was already a monastery here before this one, the most ancient in Crete, created around 11th Century. However, the Venetian census of 1637 does not mention any monastery here, but the church of St-John the Hermit. Which is now part of the monastery.
It's said that the monks left the monastery during 17th century after pirat raids.

Next to the ruins is the cave of St-John the Hermit (Agios Ioannis Xenos) who is thought to have come here from Egypt and was active in many parts of Crete, such as Azogyre, before ending up at Akrotiri.
The Cave of St John, on the bed of an underground river, is over 100 metres long and covers an area of 1,500 sq.m. This was the retreat of St John the Hermit, who lived off wild greens in the winter and carobs in the summer. Legend has it that, near the end of his life, he was no longer strong enough to walk upright, due to his poor diet and the hardships of the ascetic life. 
One day a distant hunter mistook him for an animal, as he was walking all crouched up, and injured him with his arrows.
The injured saint returned to his cave and breathed his last lying on a rock, now known as “St John’s bed”.
This rock is supposed to have healing properties and many people used to break bits off to take away with them.


(visit link)

Full name of the abbey/monastery/convent: Monastery Katholiko Address: Chania 731 Chania, Crete Greece Religious affiliation: Catholic Date founded/constructed: around 1600 Status of Use: Abandoned Ruin Web Site: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/21/2019 seal13 visited it