Episkopi Ierapetras is a village on the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 island of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

. Episkopi belongs to the municipality of Ierapetra

Ierapetra

Ierapetra is a town in the southeast of the Greek island of Crete and a municipality of Crete region.-History:The town of Ierapetra is located on the southeast coast of Crete, along the beach of Ierapetra Bay. It lies south of Agios Nikolaos and southwest of Sitia and is an important regional...

 in the prefecture of Lasithi

Lasithi

Lasithi is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra, Sitia and Neapoli. The mountains include the Dikte to the west and the Sitia Mountains to the east...

. It lies north of Ierapetra in the middle of the narrowest part of the island. The village has approximately one thousand inhabitants.
The village was established during the Minoan

Minoan civilization

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...

 period, probably between 2500 and 2000 BCE. Is located 6.5 km north of Ierapetra on the road from Agios Nikolaos to Ierapetra at 120 m a.s.l. The municipality covers an area of 36 km², while 15 km² are cultivated with olive trees, most of them irrigated from the Bramianos dam, and the springs of Malavra, Thripti, Kefalovrissi and Kato Horio. Like their minoan predecessors the present residents are employed mostly in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, in the harvest of olives and the production of olive oil.

The village's main attraction is a small Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 church which was built at 961 A.C. It has recently been restored. The church is dedicated to Agios Georgios (Saint George)

Saint George

Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

 and Agios Charalambos. Close to this church the remains of an Early Byzantine church can be found.

At 1946 A.C. a sarcophagus was found in the village from the Minoan period