The Church of Panagia Antiphonetria stands in the village of Myriokephala, 29 kilometres southwest of Rethymno. It is the katholikon of a former monastery, one of the oldest in Crete, founded around 1020 according to the will of Saint John the Xenite, who used it as a centre for his work establishing hermitages across western Crete. The monastery no longer functions. The church, a cross-in-square plan with a dome, is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin (feast day 8 September). Its apse has a triple-lobed window, and there is a fine bell tower. The monastery flourished under Venetian rule and later suffered under the Turks. The interior preserves three layers of frescoes, the earliest dating to around 1020, which were revealed beneath plaster. The church now serves as the parish church of Myriokephala.
Coordinates and heritage data compiled in the Atika atlas.
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