Koudouma Holy Monastery

It is one of the most impressive monasteries of Crete.

Koudouma Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries on the southern coast of central Crete.

Only the most patient and tenacious of visitors manage to gain access to it.

The monastery is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin and its sanctuary is inside a small cave. It is a communal monastery and most of the monks live in nearby caves. In the cave of Agios Antonios (St Anthony) there is also a church by the same name. The monastery services are performed according to the typikon (the instructions for the orders of the services during the ecclesiastical year, contained in a manual) in Mount Athos tradition.

The name ‘Koudoumas’ was probably a surname. This is indicated by a 13th century document,
in which ‘Cudhumano’ is listed as a surname in a contract dated 1280. The current monastery was built by two Cretan monks and brothers, Parthenios and Eumenios Charitakis, some time after 1870. Its predecessor was destroyed, probably by corsairs (pirates, privateers), and had, therefore, been abandoned.

Information/ Photo 1 from Wikipedia

Photos 2-3: Wikimedia