"A whitewashed monastery on a cliff above the Libyan Sea, guarding a golden step only the faithful can see"
Chrysoskalitissa Monastery
Chrisoskalitissa, Region of Crete, Greece
Chrysoskalitissa Monastery stands on a rock promontory thirty-five meters above the southwestern coast of Crete, overlooking the Libyan Sea toward Africa. An active Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, it has drawn monks and pilgrims since at least the Venetian era, though tradition traces its origins to the Byzantine Iconoclast period. A long staircase ascends to its entrance, and the last step, according to legend, is made of gold.
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Quick Facts
Location
Chrisoskalitissa, Region of Crete, Greece
Tradition
Site Type
Year Built
17th century
Coordinates
35.3113, 23.5333
Last Updated
Feb 13, 2026
Learn More
Chrysoskalitissa Monastery traces its origins to the Byzantine Iconoclast period, first appears in Venetian records in 1637, and has survived Ottoman taxation, the 1824 Elafonisi massacre, and World War II. It is an active male Greek Orthodox monastery under the Metropolis of Kissamos and Selinos.
Origin Story
The founding story of Chrysoskalitissa is a story of concealment and revelation. During the Byzantine Iconoclast period (726-842 AD), when imperial decree ordered the destruction of religious images throughout the empire, a farmer on the remote southwestern coast of Crete discovered an icon of the Virgin Mary hidden in a crevice in the rock. Whoever had placed it there, perhaps a monk or a faithful layperson, had chosen this cliff above the sea as the icon's hiding place, trusting the remoteness to protect what the authorities would have destroyed.
The discovery of the icon became the foundation of the monastery. A community gathered around the sacred image, building first a simple shrine carved into the rock and eventually the monastery that stands today. The name itself encodes a deeper story. Chrysoskalitissa means 'of the golden step,' from chrysos (gold) and skalas (step). According to the most widespread version of the legend, the last of the steps leading to the monastery is made of gold, visible only to those whose faith is genuine. Other accounts say the golden step was a literal artifact, sold by the Patriarch to pay Ottoman taxes, or that monastery treasures were hidden beneath a step during the Ottoman conquest.
These variants need not be reconciled. Together, they form a composite that says something true about the monastery's character: this is a place where the sacred has been hidden, discovered, lost, and sought again across the centuries. The golden step, whether literal gold, a test of faith, or a story told to sustain hope during occupation, carries the same meaning. Something of value is present here, if you know how to look.
Key Figures
Manassis Glynias
Monk from Askifou who undertook a major renovation of the monastery in 1855, rebuilding the guesthouse, monk cells, and warehouses. His work preserved the community during a period of Ottoman-era decline and ensured that the monastery survived to see its church rebuilt four decades later.
Bishop Dorotheos Klonaris
Bishop of Kissamos who inaugurated the new church on August 15, 1894, the feast of the Dormition. The current katholikon, replacing the earlier structure carved into rock, was completed in just three months under his pastoral authority.
The unnamed farmer (traditional)
The figure from the monastery's origin tradition who discovered the icon of the Virgin Mary hidden in a rock crevice during the Iconoclast period. His act of discovery is understood as the founding moment of the monastery, though his name is lost to history.
The nuns of 1940-1941
When the monastery was converted to a nunnery in 1940, a community of women occupied the site until the German invasion of Crete in 1941 led to their expulsion. Their brief tenure represents one of the few periods of female monastic presence in the monastery's recorded history.
The bee swarm of 1824 (traditional)
Not a human figure, but a presence central to the monastery's survival narrative. When Ottoman-Egyptian forces approached the deserted monastery after the Easter massacre at nearby Elafonisi, a swarm of bees nesting in the shrine's niche reportedly attacked and drove them away, saving the monastery from looting and destruction.
Spiritual Lineage
Chrysoskalitissa belongs to the Greek Orthodox monastic tradition of Crete, a branch of Eastern Orthodoxy shaped by the island's distinctive history of Venetian and Ottoman rule. The monastery is under the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Kissamos and Selinos, the westernmost diocese of the Church of Crete. In 1900, it was annexed to the Monastery of Odigitria Gonia, a larger and better-known house near Kolymvari, establishing a relationship of dependency that connects Chrysoskalitissa to a broader network of Cretan monasticism. The monastery's dedication to the Dormition of the Theotokos places it within the widespread tradition of Marian devotion that is central to Greek Orthodox piety, particularly in Crete, where the Virgin is venerated with special intensity.
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