The Monastery of Kathara is Built on the southeast ridge of Mount Neritos at a height of 600/566 meters, it offers the visitor the feeling of flying and seeing from above not only a large part of Ithaca, but also Kefalonia, the islands of Echinades, Aitoloakarnania, even the Peloponnese and Zakynthos!

The monastery is a male community since 1703 and is dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin Mary, who is also the patron saint of the island. The Monastery is celebrated on 8 September while the traditional feast is being held in the yard on the eve. According to the tradition, it was named because the icon of Virgin Mary was found intact among the “kathara”, that is to say dry and bushy, which spurted at the site where the church was originally built around 1696 and thereafter the monastery. According to others, her name is related to the Catholic faith of Kathara while according to a third version she associates it with the pre-Christian worship of the pure goddess Athena.

The remains of Aghia Paraskevi, Eleftherios, Charalambous, Andreou Crete, etc. are kept in the Monastery. Within the icon of the Virgin Mary attributed to the evangelist Luke, the church adorns a wonderful wood-carved Byzantine iconostasis as well as plenty of devotees of believers. The bell tower was rebuilt after the earthquakes of 1953 with a gift from the Drakouli family and on its ground floor is the chapel of St. Constantine and Helen. During the 20th century, the Monastery was often confronted with serious maintenance problems worsened by wars and earthquakes. However, with the help of believers and benefactors, he managed to resist the wastage of time, and today unremitting efforts are being made to further improve it, which is coordinated by the leading archimandrite Sebastian Moschos.