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(Troodos)

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Asinou Church Nicosia district

Sadly, the Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus has dealt a severe blow to efforts to preserve the island's precious Byzantine heritage. Instead of being protected, churches have been systematically looted or destroyed and their frescoes, mosaics, icons and other religious artifacts have been removed and sold overseas. The churches themselves have been abandoned, and even converted into stables in some cases. This tragedy is partly a result of Turkey's effort to destroy all remnants of Christianity and Hellenism in Cyprus, and partly of an attempt by unscrupulous traders to make quick profit on the lucrative interna tional black markets.

A particularly blatant example of cultural destruction came to light early in 1989 when four mosaics, depict ing the child Christ, an Archangel and Apostles James and Matthew, from the church of Panayia Kanakaria at Lythrangomi in the Karpass peninsula appeared in the United States. An Indianapolis art dealer had offered to sell the mosaics to the Getty Museum, the world's largest art museum. Directors of the museum immediately alerted the Cyprus Government, which instituted legal proceedings on the grounds that the mosaics were stolen property. After a trial which generated considerable interest in the press and the international art world, it was eventually ruled that the mosaics be returned to Cyprus.

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Ayios Nicolaos tis Stegis

But despite this success, the plundering of art treasures remains a threat. For instance, fears remain about other mosaics from the Panayia Kanakaria church, including an 18th century representation of the Virgin Mary and Jesus regarded by experts as the third most important early Christian mural. There is ample evidence that a great many frescoes and mosaics have been either vandalised or removed and sold abroad in some cases with the obvious connivance of the Turkish occupation army and the Turkish Cypriot 'authorities '.

P erhaps the most glorious frescoes still intact in their original surroundings are in the Panayia Phorviotissa church at Asinou in the foothills of the Troodos slopes facing north. Recently restored with the help of UNESCO, the colours of the wall paintings seern almost as brilliant today as they mllst have been when they were first painted over eight hundred years ago. Equally impressive are the wall paintings decorating a cave dwelling in the hills above Paphos, where the Cypriot hermit, St Neophytos, lived for fifty years. One of these frescoes carries the signature of the earliest Byzantine painter known by name. In this cave St Neophytos also cut out his tomb. Many Greek Cypriots still attribute miraculous powers to the site, to which many sick people climb and, following a ritual, turn around three ti1nes in the hope of being cured.

In addition to paintings, Cyprus is also the home to important icons which were shipped to the island for safety during the Iconoclast period. These too are the subject of legends. For instance, one icon kept at the Kykko Monastery high up in the Troodos mountains, is attributed to the brush of St Luke and is said to have been given to a Cypriot monk, Esaias, by the Byzantine Emperor of Constantinople as a present for having cured his daughter of sciatica. The icon, the holiest on the island, is now enclosed in a shrine of tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl and protected by a cloth decorated with the figure of the Virgin Mary in silver and edged with pearls. A silver gilt plate dating from 1776 now covers the painting, bearing a repre sentation of the painting beneath. Despite its importance, few people are anxious to remove the plate since a strange and terrible fate is said to await those who gaze on the painting beneath. Beliefs in its miraculous powers have been enhanced by its survival from sever al fires which have razed to the ground the Monastery, built by Esaias in 1092 to house the icon.

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Chrysoroyiatissa Monastery

Also in the Troodos mountains lies the Monastery of Chrysorroyatissa. It too possesses an icon supposed to have been painted by St Luke. When the Iconoclastic wars broke out this icon was, according to legend, saved by a monk who threw it into the sea from where it drifted to Cyprus. Here another monk, Ignatius, found it after a vision had informed him of its wherea bouts and built a shrine to honour it.

The geographical location of Cyprus made it a haven for Christians fleeing persecution as well as art treasures fleeing the Iconoclasts. Many Christians, some of them later canonised, fled to the island when the Holy Land was seized by the Saracens and are buried here. This is why Cyprus was sometimes called the "island of saints", and tales of miraculous events and visions of angels still abound on the island. According to the legend when St Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, came to the island, Cyprus was in the thirty-sixth year of a period of drought and famine whtch miraculously ceased when she arrived. St Helena brought a relic of the Cross upon which Jesus was crucified and founded a monastery on the top of a hill to enshrine it. This became known as Stavrovouni (the hill of the cross) and lies halfway between the capital, Nicosia, and the coastal town of Larnaca.

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Platres Village

Cyprus' proximity to the Holy Land led to the island being among the earliest places to be converted to Christianity. It was one of St Paul's initial ports of call in 45AD on his mission to convert the world. St Paul, together with St Barnabas, the twelfth Apostle who replaced Iscariot and himself a Jew of Cypriot origin, travelled across Cyprus and built the island's first church which he named after St Heracleidios, who guided the apostles through the Troodos mountains, and whom they appointed Bishop of Cyprus. St Hera cleidios' Monastery is situated near the village of Politiko about 14 miles from Nicosia, near the site of the ancient city of Tamassos.

The special significance of Cyprus as an early Christian centre reflected its independence from the Byzan tine Church. This privilege was granted following recognition of the Cyprus Church's claim to having been founded by the Apostle St Barnabas, whose remains were discovered still holding a copy of St Mat thew's Gospel. To this day, the Cyprus Church jeal ouslyguards its independence and remains autonomous within the Orthodox Church. Thus the Archbishop of Cyprus retains special privileges conferred upon him by the Emperor Zeno, including the right to wear a purple cloak, to carry a sceptre instead of a pastoral staffand to sign his name in red ink.