The Monastery of Agios Georgios tou Epanosifi (or Apanosifi), near the village of Metaxochori, about 30km south of Heraklion, is one of the most populous male monasteries in Crete. Founded around 1600 by the monk Paisios, who, after a dispute at the Monastery of Apezanes, set out for the Monastery of Agkarathou but stopped for the night on the estate of the Venetian lord Langouvardos. There, he dreamed of Saint George and built the monastery. The name Epanosifi comes from Langouvardos, who had two shepherds both called Sifis; he distinguished them as ‘Upper Sifis’ and ‘Lower Sifis’. The monastery flourished in the 18th century, supporting a school and a rich library, with scholarly monks who were hymnographers and copyists. The most important source for its history is the ‘Narration’ by Hierodeacon Iakovos, written in 1864.
Coordinates and heritage data compiled in the Atika atlas.
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