Saints Fanentes Monastery Ruins
Description
The Monastery of Saints Fanentes was built on the Kyatis hill of the citadel of Classical Same, inside its fortification walls. A tower of the ancient walls was incorporated in the monastery’s defensive tower. According to tradition, the saints’ relics were found in a cave of the area and were lost in a shipwreck in the sea area of Fiscardo as they were being transported to the West. According to another version, the name of the monastery is related to the Gnostic philosopher Epiphanes of the 2nd century AD, who according to Clemes the Alexandrean was honoured as god at Same. The monastery was built before 1264, the year of its first recording in the proceedings of Kephallenia’s Latin Diocese. After flourishing in the 17th century as a significant spiritual centre with a hieratic school, it was closed down in 1805.