Panagia Chrysoleontissa

Panagia Chrysoleontissa is considered the patron saint of Aegina. Its homonymous monastery, formerly male and nowadays female, was for centuries the most sacred on the island.According to local tradition, the Monastery was originally built near the coastal village of Leonti and thus was vulnerable to raids by pirates and Agarines. After three successive destructions, at the beginning of the 17th century it was decided to transfer the Monastery, to a point far from the sea, in a protected area so that it is not visible from the sea and easily accessible by pirates.

North of the katholikon rises proudly the large tower of the Monastery, which according to tradition, was rebuilt to protect against pirates, around 1600.The monastery functioned without interruption as a male monastery, until 1935, the year when the Archbishop of Athens Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, realizing its complete abandonment, turned it into a female one by royal decree. For this purpose, he detached five nuns from the monastery of Agios Nektarios.