Sites of Religious Interest

If one wished to summarize the characteristics of the mountain and its people, one would have to use these three adjectives: primeval, self-sufficient, and sacred.
As early as the Minoan period, the Asterousia Mountains constituted a place of intense ritual activity, while during the pre-Christian and post-Christian years they attracted a great number of believers who visited the area to pray. In fact, these mountains were known as Mount Athos of Crete. It is indicative that during an interview, Thanos Mikroutsikos – who was a member of the Association for the Protection of Asterousia – had said the following: “In Asterousia you can converse with God!”.

The sanctity of the place was first established during the early Minoan era with the summit temple of Kofinas. It then continued during the Greco-Roman era with a series of Asclepieions, and during the byzantine era through the rise of asceticism, anachoresis, and the first ascetics in Europe. This relationship with God culminated during the Medieval times, when the resisting theologians settled in Asterousia, founded monasteries and schools, offered massive national and religious guidance, preserved Orthodoxy and the Greek conscience of the Cretans, and paved the way for the next era, that of the Renaissance. The Noetic Prayer, which first appeared in Asterousia, was also a result of that time period. The Noetic Prayer or “Prayer of the Heart” comprises the basis of the neptic – mystic theology and aims to lead the mind into the heart. In this way, it attempts to reach and see the Uncreated Light, the only energy of God, which humans can also become aware and a part of.

The multifaceted mountains with the rich and rare endemic and steno-endemic flora and fauna still preserve a great number of traditions, habits, and customs, a lot of which have primeval roots, or constitute surviving remnants of the Minoan and pre-Christian religion. Some indicative examples are the Tree Worship in Kofinas, the Holy Dreams in Kapetaniana, and the ritual rope envelopment of the settlement in Paranymfoi.