For most of its history this was the only church on Antipaxos.

It stands inland from the east coast, reached by a walled lane that passes a large wild pear tree and climbs among almond trees. The building is plain: six arched windows, a flat ceiling, a latticed gallery and wooden stalls, and a simple white stone iconostasis. Its bell hangs from a post rather than from a tower. Beside it a wide terrace with a single olive tree serves as the village square.

The feast of Agios Aimilianos falls on 18 July and is still the day of the year on Antipaxos. In the 1880s there was not one musical instrument on the island, so for the festival the musicians came over by boat from Paxos, with violin and mandolin.

The church also worked as a seamark. Fishermen found the Exo Xera, a reef three miles out in eighteen fathoms of water, at the point where Agios Aimilianos and Agios Isavros line up and disappear behind the land. After dark they used the Panagia lighthouse instead.

Ancient graves have been recorded in the ground around the church.