Inside the cave and beneath the rock
stands the old chapel all alone…
The chapel was built in the cave by residents of Skyros in the honor of Agios Athanasios that lived an ascetic life in it. According to history, during his campaign to reoccupy Crete from the Arabs in 958, Nikiforos Fokas was forced to find shelter in Skyros due to a storm. Agios Athanasios travelled at that time together with the Emperor. Fokas promised to give him as a gift a part of Skyros in order to built a monastery in case he won the battle against the Arabs. Agios Athanasios remained in Skyros and lived in this cave. The land that was given to him belongs now to the monastery of Megisti Lavra in Agio Oros.