History

Till this day no one knows the exact date the Monastery was founded.
The only elements that we can find are the manuscripts of father Amvrosios Paktitis , who served the Monastery from 1892 until 1956, initially as a monk and after as an abbot of the Monastery. Father Amvrosios compiled his ideas, thoughts and memoirs in these manuscripts which were found many years later. After being restored they were published into a book titled “CHRONICAL MEMORANDUM” (CHRONIKA SIMIOMATA) .
From this book the following information was discovered which pertains to Monastery's history.

Part One:
“Narration of how the holy monastery of Myrtidiotissa was built and who was its founder:

The blessed monastery of Virgin Mary of Myrtidiotissa was initially built as a small church in the year ???? by a monk named "Daniel Kaggelaris", who was coming from the kingdom of Persia and was the one and only son of the king Alibey, ottoman in his faith. Then, by divine inspiration, father Daniel decided to get baptized as a Christian orthodox. This happened in the church of Saint George of Romans in the city of Venetians in the year ???? and on the 26th of October he received the name Dimitrios. After he spent some time in the city of the Venetians and with the help of the orthodox community he came to the city of Kallipolis to take monastic vows in the monastery of Blessed Mary. After he lived in that monastery for some time he became the first lay brother and when he became a priest-monk he received the name Daniel. When father Daniel learned about the relics of the Saint Spiridon, the patron saint of the island of Corfu, he decided to visit the island of Corfu and asked for the blessing of the fathers of the holy monastery. In the year ???? on the 23rd of April he arrived in Corfu and was directed to the holy church of Saint Spiridon… ”


Part Two:
“June 24th, Corfu. Father Daniel was in the church of Saint Vlasios and one night he saw a vision, an angel ordering him: “go to the mountain of Trialos in the area named Kondrakas, there you will find a cave. Inside that cave you will find a stone with the shape of a dove and a cross. There you will also find the icon of Virgin Mary and in that place you will build a church dedicated to Virgin Mary”.
When father Daniel woke up he thought that it was just a ghost.
A few days later as he was finishing a prayer he heard a loud noise, the doors of the church opened and he saw the same angel in front of him and the angel said “you should hurry and do what I ordered you to”.
The next day father Daniel rode his mule and directed himself to the village of Vatos. He asked the locals for the road to Trialos and he began his journy up a mountain. When he reached a place called “Alonaki” he saw some locals cleaning the wheat and asked them the direction to the area of “Kondrakas”. Finally he entered the forest of the myrtles and after some time of seraching he found the entrance of the cave. As he entered the cave he found the cross and the dove shaped stone.

All this was drafted on a simple piece of parchment. The author and date remain unknown.
1913/06/02 Amvosios Paktitis.”