Saints in Cyprus

The Orthodox Church is an organisation of self governing churches, with the Patriarch of Constantinople holding titular primacy as the first among equals. The unity of the Church is manifested in common faith and communion in the sacraments and no one but Christ himself is the real head of the Church. Some of the autocephalous churches are the Church of Constantinople (Istanbul), the Church of Alexandria (Egypt), the Church of Antioch (with headquarters in Damascus, Syria), and the Churches of Jerusalem, CYPRUS, Georgia, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

See Apostolos Varnavas

for the story of how the Orthodox Church in Cyprus was granted the right to self-government

The Saints and the angels are an important part of the Greek Orthodox church and faith. All baptized Greeks are named after a Saint and the Name Day is celebrated rather than the Birthday

The Orthodox Church does not necessarily follow official procedure for the recognition of Saints. Initially the Church accepted as Saints those who had suffered martyrdom for Christ. The Saints are saints thanks to the grace of God, and they do not need official ecclesiastical recognition

Many Saints are non-existent, or may be shadowy figures of early Christianity popularized by embroidered tales. As such they are often documented in fragmentary form

Frescoes were used to teach illiterate people the message of the Bible and to relate the lives of Saints. The pictures feature key elements of incidents in the stories. Later, in iconography the Saints continue to be presented accordingly

The Saints are divided into six main categories:
The Apostles	The first ones to spread Word of God and of salvation through Christ. The word apostle in the New Testament is ‘apostolos’ which in Hellenistic literature means, ‘messenger, envoy, ambassador’, devoid of any religious connotation
	Apostolos Varnavas; Apostolos Andreas
The Prophets	Those who predicted and prophesied the coming of the Messiah
	Cyprus does not seem to have any
The Martyrs	Those who sacrificed their lives by confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind
	Mamas; Yeoryios; Dimitrios; Varvara; The40 Martyrs; Kyriaki; Kosmas & Damianos; Aikaterina
The Fathers	Hierarchs of the Church, who excelled in explaining and in defending the Christian faith
	among the Cypriot Bishops declared Saints of the late Christian era are: Epiphanios; Herakleidos; Ioannis the Almsgiver; Leontios of Neapolis; Mnasonos; Spyridonos; Trifyllios; Tykhonos; Demetrianos; (Nikolaos who is adopted because he is reported to have lived here for a time)
The Monastics	Those who lived in seclusion and dedicated themselves to spiritual exercise reaching, as far as possible, perfection in Christ.
	Neophytos; Sozomenos; Maria of Egypt; Onoufrios
The Just	Those who lead exemplary lives as clergy or laity becoming examples for imitation.
	Ioannis Lampidistos; Thekla

	The martyrdom by stoning	Concealing the body and tomb
	Appearing in the dream	Discovering the tomb
	Delegation to Constantinople	Leaving with the power and priveleges
Left Panel			Right Panel
The icon of Apostolos Varnavas showing the scenes relevant to the
founding of the Orthodox Church in Cyprus
located in the Monastery of Saint Barnabas near Salamis

The Mural

Varnavas is honored as the founder of the Cypriot church.

This mural is located adjacent to the chancel in the church of the Monastery of Apostolos Varnavas near Salamis

It tells the story of the recovery of the relics of St. Barnabas which proved the apostolic foundation of the Church of Cyprus and, thus, its autocephaly was confirmed.

The dream revealing the tomb The Bishops presenting their case and returning home

After Ayios Varnavas was martyred by the Jews in his home country of Cyprus, Mark buried his body at the western gate of the city of Salamis, with a manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew on his chest. For centuries the location grave was unknown.

During the reign of Emperor Zeno, the Apostle appeared in visions on three nights in a row to Archbishop Anthemius of Cyprus and revealed the location of his grave.

The Bishops formed a delegation to petition the Emperor in Constantinople to recognise the Apostolic Autocephalous Church of Cyprus together with it privileges - the purple robe, imperial sceptre and the right to sign his name in red ink for the Archbishop of Cyprus

Apostolos Andreas

Orthodox Name Day is November 30 and the meaning of the name is manly

He is called the Protokletos (the First Called) because he was the first Apostle to be summoned into service.

Andrew and his brother Peter made their living as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.

Both men became Apostles, and while Peter symbolically came to represent the Church of the West, Andrew likewise represents the Church of the East.

In art, Apostolos Andreas is depicted as a bearded old man carrying the Gospel and the Cross

Ayios Lazaros

Orthodox Name Day is celebrated in Larnaka 8 days before Orthodox Easter

One who has survived serious illness or near death is often called Lazaros or Lazarides

The first bishop of Kition.

After being raised fro the dead, Lazarus left Judea and came to Cyprus where he lived the rest of his life

One legend which grew around Lazaros was that he never smiled - what he had seen in his brief stay in Purgatory had sobered him for his second life

In those days,, the present salt lake area was lush vineyards. When Lazaros approached a farmer's wife to ask for some grapes, she refused. He was so angry, he turned the vineyards into a salt lake

In art, Saint Lazaros is depicted as an old man dressed in Bishop's robes and carrying a copy of the Gospel