Blue Aegean Hotel Heraklion Gouves

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Religion

About 95 per cent of Greeks follow the Greek Orthodox religion, while the remaining five per cent are a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, Armenian and Jewish.

The Grete people take their religion very seriously and you’ll find that every village church is ornately decorated, normally with colourful frescoes showing images of Christ and the saints and scenes from the Bible. Many are donated by the congregation im memory of their loved ones.

The main feature of every Orthodox church, however, is the iconostasis - a wooden screen, gilded and filled with several tiers of sacred images, which separates the main body of the church from the sanctuary. Only ordained priests are allowed beyond the iconostasis.

If you want to hear a traditional Greek liturgy (the ceremonies have remained largely unchanged for centuries), the main Sunday service usually starts at 10am. But remember to dress respectfully, covering bare shoulders and legs.

Buildings

Crete is scattered with the ruins of countless frescoed churches dating from 961, when the Byzantine recaptured Crete from the Saracens, to 1204, when the island fell into the hands of the Venetians.

Many of the Cretan churches were built inside a cave, on top of large boulders, and on the foundations of older buildings. Other types of Crete Church architectural style were developed later when the Byzantine empire was suffering from the attacks by the Crusaders, Arabs, and pirates, was simply composed of a single rectangular room (monohoros).The large majority of the churches of Crete are of this style. These churches are often very small, and they do not have an impressive external appearance.

However, their carefully chosen location often has an exceptional view and their interior decoration with frescoes will reward inspection. Examples of such churches in Crete are Agios Stefanos in Drakona, Kissamos (9C) and the Panagia of Gonia, Kissamos (12C).

The oldest monastery on Crete, the church of Katholiko in Akrotiri, Kydonia is an example of a church built by cutting a hole in the sheer rock of a mountainside. The church of Agios Iasatos in Agios Thomas, Monofatsi, has been built by cutting a large rock to house it. An example of a church built above two boulders is the Panagia on Two Rocks, in Fres, Apokoronas. The church of Agios Mamas in Kyriakoselia, Apokoronas, is built completely within a cave, as is also the case with the church of the Panagia (Kera Spiliotisa) in Agios Thomas, Monofatsi.