Stavrovouni Monastery - Larnaca (Cyprus)
N 34° 53.154 E 033° 26.121
36S E 539781 N 3860476
The Stavrovouni Monastery, located on the summit of lonely mountain ca 17 km NW of Larnaca, is the oldest and probably also the most important Orthodox monastery on Cyprus.
Waymark Code: WMJDB7
Location: Cyprus
Date Posted: 11/03/2013
Views: 11
The Stavrovouni Monastery, located on the summit of lonely mountain ca 17 km NW of Larnaca, is the oldest and probably also the most important Orthodox monastery on Cyprus.
The Stavrovouni Monastery, as the name already says, is dedicated to the Holy Cross - its name can be derived from two Greek words "stavros" (cross) and "vouno" (mountain). According to legend, the monastery was founded by St. Helena, the mother of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine I (she also discovered and bring into monastery a piece of the super-relics, Holy Cross). Stavrovouni, the oldest documented monastery on Cyprus (326 AD), had been an important religious centre since the 4th century. In its long history, Stavrovouni went through times of great poverty and hardship caused by the most varied invasions by foreigners on the island. The walls , the church, the iconostasis and monks' cells in Stavrovouni were almost completely destroyed during a great fire in 1888.
Recently, the monastery underwent a complete renovation. Its small church was restored again with frescoes and icons by well-known painter, Fr. Kallinikos, a monk from Stavrovouni. The present monks in Stavrovouni live a very strict form of monastic life, similar to that of the monks on Mount Athos. The rule of their first abbot , Dyonisios, forms the basis of this. Perhaps that is why it is still forbidden even today for women to visit Stavrovouni.