The church was built in the late 10th century and is dedicated to the Nativity of Virgin Mary. It was the katholikon of an affluent monastery and there were no other human settlements on the island. As a result, Koronisia was the favourite hunting ground of Carlo II Tocco ruler of Epirus from 1429 to 1448. He spent a lot of time in the monastery in between hunts and attended the service in the church. The monks were wealthy and controlled eel farms, entire forests, villages, and islands in the gulf, as well as abundant farmland on the mainland. Their incomes were so large that many Turks sought ways to extract a portion with legal or illegal methods.