The Monastery of Saint Gerasimos, situated on the plateau of Omala, is the largest religious monument in Kefalonia. Saint Gerasimos is the patron saint of the island who has built the monastery himself. After a long journey to many sacred places of the world he decided to return to Greece and lived as a hermit in a cave near Lassi. 5 years later Gerasimos founded a new convent on the ruined chapel of the Assumption. Immediately all the local believers heard his preaching, and gradually his fame is spread throughout the Christian world. The proclamation of the holiness of Saint Gerasimos took place in 1622 after his body was buried twice and exhumed intact. The Monastery of Saint Gerasimos is easily accessed from Argostoli and Sami. The relics of the saint are dressed in the vestments of the burial and is placed inside a silver reliquary, over his grave.