Byzantium, during the 14th century, after centuries of decline was reduced to a mere shadow of the once-mighty East Roman Empire. The last Christian emperors of the East, now controlled only a tiny handful of territories of what once used to be a vast empire. Desperately struggling to contain the advancement of the Ottoman Turks in the East.

For many Christians of that period, the end of a thousand years old empire seemed inevitably near. Their last hope was to retreat in their faith, in the most mystical aspects of it: the monasticism. The monastery of Ypapanti was first established during this dark period, in the year 1367.