The Monastery of the Holy Apostle Andrew in Milapidia of Kefallonia was founded during the Byzantine era, and deserted after the 13th century. It was reestablished in 1579, when three spiritual sisters named Benedictine, Leondia and Magdalene, originating from the first capital of Kefallonia - the Middle Age Municipality of Kastro - bought the land where the ruined chapel of the Apostle Andrew preexisted, aiming to lead a monastic life.
Soon after it became a Convent and in 1639 the Greek-Romanian Princess Roxane, renamed as a nun Romilia, daughter of the Protospathario leader of Moldovlachia Zotos Tsigaras and granddaughter of the sovereign of Moldovlachia Peter Voevodas, started her monastic life.
Apart from her large wealth, money and real estate, she bestowed upon the Convent a valuable spiritual treasure from Mount Athos, the sacred relic of the right foot (sole) of Apostle Andrew. The sole, wholly dislocated from the ankle, bears on it the flesh of the Saint, his dried blood, and the hole from the nail of his crucifixion. Its fragrance is distinct and very intense.
