| Following the Byzantine reconquest of Crete (961 AD), the ancient episcopal see of Lambi was transferred to the Kalamonas area, the modern-day village of Megali Episkopi. During the period of Venetian rule it passed to Latin bishops, and after the mid-15th century, now known as the see of Kalamonas, to the city of Rethymnon. The Orthodox see of Lambi reappeared during the Turkish period, originally comprising the Amari and Aghios Vassilios districts; the district of Sphakia was later added (from 1831 onwards). The worship of Panaghia Lambini continued in the area, with three churches dedicated to her in the villages of Lambini, Drimiskos and Diplochori in the 14th and 15th centuries. Lambini became the seat of the Orthodox see of Lambi after the Ottoman conquest of Crete. |