He slowly excavated the opening further to encompass his hermitage cell, a small chapel, and his eventual tomb. While it began as a hermitage for Neophytos alone, he eventually gained a small following and the Engleistra, as it was also called, became a quiet monastic community in 1170 when the Bishop of Paphos convinced him to take a pupil. Neophytos was staunchly against materialism and being bothered, which kept the population of monks much smaller than at other monasteries of the time.