Agios Theodoros

Agios Theodoros is the protector of Kythera. He was born in Koroni (southern Peloponnese) around the end of the 9th century. He grew up in Nauplie where he married and had two children. However, his greatest wish was to become a monk. He visited Rome and later on Monemvasia (a medieval citadel in the southeastern part of Peloponnese) and found refuge in a cell. Around 921 A.D. he went to Kythera, when the island was practically deserted as its people had been driven away by Cretan pirates. Agios Theodoros stayed there as a monk in the monasteries of Agios Sergios and Vakchos. He died on the 9th of May 922. Shortly after some seamen found his body and buried him on the site. The old aforementioned monastery was rebuilt between the 12th and the 13th century by Monemvasian architects, who dedicated it to Agios Theodoros. Throughout the centuries the new temple was transformed into a monastery and was renovated in 1630 by Kythera’s bishop, Athanasios Valerianos. The monastery is located outside the village of Logothetianika. Inside there is also a British school that has been restored and is used today as the monastery’s museum. Nearby are some traces of an old temple devoted to Asclepios, god of medicine.