Filagris Monastery at Lousoudi

The monastery of the Three Hierarchs is located at one of the most inhospitable areas of Crete, at position Lousoudi of the wild Asterousia Mountains . It was founded in the 14th century near the peak of Kofinas , at an altitude of 880m, and is considered by archaeologist Athanasios Paliouras as the "first" Greek University.

Founder of the monastery was the monk Joseph Filagris , one of the most important scholars of Aristotle , who at the same time continued here the long tradition of asceticism around Asterousia . The excavations have brought to light the monk cells, the cuisine and dining room, store houses and the guest house.

The most important however, was Scriptorium , i.e. the workshop where Filagris and his students copied manuscripts, codices and parchments from religious texts and ancient writers, especially Aristotle . The manuscripts of Filagris are preserved today in libraries in London , Vienna , Paris , Bucharest , Mount Athos , etc.

The Church in this period fought Aristotle , while the Venetians had forbidden teaching of the Greek Language . However, the choice of this isolated place for establishing the monastery helped Filagris with his great work.

He contributed to the rescue of a large part of Aristotle’s work, but also he taught Greek Literature , Mathematics and Medicine in very high level. On 30/1/2016, a Divine Service was held for the first time after 600 years in the restored temple of the monastery.