After visiting all the above-mentioned attractions of the island, you can continue excursions to the shrines of Kefalonia. There are two monasteries here: St. Andrew Miliapidia and St. Gerasim. These two monasteries are female.
Saint Gerasim, who led a hermit's life in caves, is the patron saint of Kefalonia. In 1506, a hermit was born in the city of Trikala (Peloponnese). Having received his education, he began to travel around Greece and managed to visit Constantinople. On Mount Athos he began his monastic life in the Kapsala cave. He later went to Jerusalem, where he served for 12 years.
Desiring peace and solitude, the saint goes to the island of Zakif. And in 1555 he moved to Kefalonia, where he lived for five years in the Lassi cave near Argostoli (a temple is currently built over it). In 1560, he moved to the Omala region, where, together with his sisters, he restored the chapel and built a monastery. He called it "New Jerusalem".
The cave with a narrow entrance, in which the saint lived for about 19 years, has survived to this day. Gerasim died in 1579. His relics are in the glass reliquary of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The monastery has three plane trees planted by Gerasim himself, 37 small wells and three springs. The saint is famous for being able to free himself from domination.
The monastery of St. Andrew Millapidis was founded in the Byzantine era. In 1264 it was transferred to the Latin bishopric. A hundred years later it fell into disrepair and was revived only in 1579, when three sisters bought it: Leontia, Benedict and Magdalena. They settle there, and soon the monastic community grows. After a shipwreck in 1639, the Greco-Romanian princess Roxana entered the monastery. She invested huge real estate in the monastery, but most importantly, the princess donated to the monastery the relics of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, called from Athos. The monastery also has a museum with rare ancient icons and relics.

02 March 2024, Saturday | 638