The monastery is dedicated to Saint Andrew (Apostle Andreas). According to the holy books, he was the first person to be called for induction to priesthood by Jesus Christ, His title was O Protoklitos meaning:‘the one first called.

The monastery is one of the pilgrimage centres of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. It was once known as 'the Lourdes of Cyprus', served not by an organized community of monks but by a changing group of volunteer priests and laymen.

An enormous modern plaza of pilgrims' lodgings frames the slightly older monastery buildings wrapped around the central church. Below, the modern church steps lead down to a square, vaulted chapel, three baptismal basins fed by a sacred spring and an old wharf. It was on this site that it was said St. Andrew briefly landed in Cyprus on his final missionary journey back to his Palestinian homeland. His footfall revealed a spring whose waters miraculously healed the blind captain of his ship.

On the bust in the courtyard of the monastery is an inscription stating that the monastery was built by Ionnis Oicoromus.

A fortified monastery stood here in the 12th century, from which Isaac Comnenus negotiated his surrender to Richard the Lionheart, though the chapel built in the 15th century is the oldest surviving building.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20869546

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20869567

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolos_Andreas_Monastery