Churches-Temples-Monasteries
GUIDE TO KEFALONIA
The Monastery is located on the valley of Omala and it is the most important religious site of Kefalonia. It was founded in 1560 by Saint Gerasimos himself, who was declared the patron saint of the island. We celebrate his name with a big festival twice a year, on October 20, but also on August 16. For us, Saint Gerasimos is simply the "Saint", while we honor his name by giving it to our children for hundreds of years now, so much that every family has at least 2 members named “Gerasimos" and "Gerasimoula". The relics of the Saint are kept in the Monastery and are dressed in the vestments of burial, placed in a silver urn, above his tomb. You can also visit the hermitage of the Saint, as its entrance is located inside the temple: it is a very narrow passage that leads through an almost vertical iron staircase three meters long to an underground space which is separated by a narrow hole into "two rooms". In the areas of the Monastery are still preserved, the three large plane trees planted by the Saint himself, as well as the three wells opened with his hands, according to tradition.