It was about in 700AC when the 300 Alaman monks arrived in Cyprus to preach Christianity. Among them there were three well-known saints, Therapon, Eytichios and Ioannis that has later been renamed to Spileotis.
The three monks, chose an area 3 kilometres north from the Sia village and a little further from the then Roman settlement called Pampoulia, to build their monasteries. Ioannis chose the bed of a dried up river and there, on the root of the hillside, he dug his cave with a small knife. He decorated it with a bed made of stone.
If you visit the area, you will admire the cave and its location. A few metres west of the cave there is a small chapel which is now destroyed. The Saint’s new chapel was built a few dozen metres higher from the torrent’s bed, after it had been leveled on the peak of the hill. It is celebrated on the 26th of September.
