Page 18 - SEVEN CHURCHES

BELLAPAIS MONASTERY To the north-east of Kyrenia APOSTOLOS ANDREAS MONASTERY This is one square, vaulted
(Girne), set on the side of a mountain, this twelfth-century of the pilgrimage centres of Orhodox Church of chapel, three
monastery is a fine example of Gothic architecture of Cyprus, and is at the tip of the Karpas peninsula. baptismal basins
the Lusignan period. The abbey comprises of a church, St Andrew was the brother of St Peter, who served fed by a sacred
refectory, dormitory and storage rooms grouped John the Baptist and was the first of the spring and an old
around an inner courdyard. It was originally occupied apostles to be called to ministry by wharf. It was on this
by a French brotherhood, the Order of Premontre, Jesus. It was once the Lourdes site that St Andrew
and was known to them as the “Abbaye of Cyprus, served not by an briefly landed in Cyprus
de la Paix”. Bellapais AbbeyDuring the organized community of on his final missionary Apostolos
reign of the Latin kings, this order was monks but by a changing journey back to his Palestinian Andreas
held in great esteem. The abbot was group of volunteer priests homeland. His footfall Monastery
ST. MAMAS MONASTERY allowed to wear the protifical mitre and laymen. An enormous revealed a spring whose
It is said that Mamas was a during mass, and was accorded modern plaza of pilgrims waters miraculously
Christian saint from Anatolia the honour of carrying a sword and lodgings frames the healed the blind
who was killed on religious wearing golden spurs while riding. slightly older monastery captain of
grounds. His family, aided by buildings wrapped around his ship.
Jesus Christ, placed Mamas in the church. Below, the
a coffin and buried him at sea. modern church
The coffin, swept away by the steps lead
tide, made its way to the Gulf down to a
of Morphou (now Guzelyurt),
where it was found by a humble
man who lived in the area. The ST BARNABAS
Bellapais
man returned to his house Monastery MONASTERY
and gathered two oxen and kYRenIa Kyrenia St. Barnabas is
Castle
called for his four sons to Antiphonitis one of the most
accompany him to the Sourp Magar St. Hilarion Churche FaMagusta significant figures
Monastery
place where the coffin Castle in the Church of
had landed. Tying a rope Cyprus. Together with
to it, they tried to pull the MoRphou nIcosIa St. Paul, he first preached
coffin away. However, Christianity on the island.
the man, realising the St. Barnabas came from a Hebrew community.
coffin was heavier than One day during his studies in Jerusalem he
he had initially thought, St. Mamas SALAMIS The ancient city of witnessed a miracle performed by Jesus
called for help. The coffin Monastery Salamis became the capital of St. Barnabas and declared himself His follower. When
Monastery
was eventually taken with Cyprus as far back as 1100 BC. The he began to preach, many people
great difficulty and effort, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, and followed him because they sensed a
and when the coffin could be KYRENIA CASTLE Romans. The ancient site covers an great force hidden in him, which they
carried no further, a church Explorations carried out in and around area of one square mile extending thought was the Holy Spirit.
was built round it. the castle take us as far as the Hellenistic along the sea shore. There is
and Roman Period (111-11 B.C) But so far still a large area awaiting
it has not been possible to establish the exact day excavation and this
of construction of the castle. As a result of the is forested with
SOURP MAGAR MONASTERY examinations carried out at the site, it is thought likely mimosa, pine
The Armenian monastery that, the original castle was built in the VII. A.D. by and eucalyptus
of Sourp Magar, or the Virgin the Byzantines for the purpose of defending Kyrenia trees.
Mary, was first established against Arab raids. The castle which had additions
in about 1000 AD as a Coptic made to it during the reign of the Lusignans and was
monastery, and was dedicated to given its present from by the Venetians has come
the Egyptian hermit St. Makarios down to us a well preserved state. ARCHITECTURE
of Alexandria (309-404 AD)
whose Coptic (Egyptian Christian) The cloister arrangement
in the south is a unique
monastery still exists in Egypt. Its example of gothic stone work.
location being at the edge of the cliff However, nothing remains of
and the beginning of a deep ravine is ST. HILARION & CASTLE, the wooden upper covering or
very picturesque. It was also used as a The castle is named, not after St. the stone parapet between
summer resort by the Armenian Church in Hilarion the Great, the founder of the columns.
the early 15th century and became a favorite monasticism in Palestine who died
pilgrimage spot for Armenians on their way near Paphos about A.D. 371, but after a
to and from the Holy Land until 1974. later saint, of whom little is known. He ANTIPHONITIS CHURCH
is counted among the three hundred The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in the 7th century.
saints who according to local tradition, However the narthex to the west and the gallery to the south were added
sought refuge in Cyprus when the by the Lusignans in the 14th or 15th century. The dome is placed on
Arabs overran the Holly Land. His relics eight round columns which form an irregular octagon. The alter area was
were preserved in the castle and “kept separated from the rest of the church by keeping two of the columns
right workshipfully” according to an separated from the walls. Considering its features, this building is one of
English visitor in the 14th century. the finest of its kind in Cyprus to survive to the present day.

FAMAGUSTA Famagusta’s historic city centre is surrounded by NICOSIA Nicosia has been in continuous today can be found in the Ayia Paraskevi
the fortifications of Famagusta, which have a roughly rectangular habitation since the beginning of the hill in the south east of the city. Only one
shape, built mainly by the Venetians in the 15th and 16th centuries, Bronze Age 2500 years BC, when the king of Ledra is known: Onasagoras.
though some sections of the walls have been dated earlier first inhabitants settled in the fertile The kingdom of Ledra was destroyed
times, as far as 1211.In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our plain of Mesaoria. Nicosia later became early. Under Assyrian rule of Cyprus,
Vanishing Heritage, Global Heritage Fund listed Famagusta, a a city-state known as Ledra or Ledrae, Onasagoras was recorded as paying
“maritime ancient city of crusader kings”, among the 12 sites most one of the twelve kingdoms of ancient tribute to Esarhaddon of Assyria in 672
“On the Verge” of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient Cyprus built by Achaeans after the end BC. By 330 BC, Ledra was recorded to
management and development pressures. of the Trojan War. Remains of old Ledra be a small unimportant town.

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