The Roots of Teresa’s Nuns in the Philippines – Volume 1 – Page 425books.google.com.ph › books
Mary Teresa Sideco – 1993 – Snippet view
A few stories , years ago , recount how Sr . Laurentia would have doors slammed to her face by some ill – mannered maids ; or the dogs set upon her … This was of course years ago when the monastery was being built and it had no revenue at all except the alms given and collected . … But during her ailing days , as the Sisters took her around for her needed exercise , she would talk fondly of her father …
Country Life – Volume 125 – Page 1150books.google.com.ph › books
1959 – Snippet view – More editions
As to a dog’s behaviour in a reputedly haunted house : most houses emit noises owing to shifting materials, … The choir in mediaeval cathedrals and monastic churches was the part of the church in which the daily offices were said or sung.
A History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus
HE CHURCH OF CYPRUS
Van Brnyn
(ExcerptaCypria, p. 9).
HierideB,p. 86.
considers Italian in style, as the handsomest building of its kind in the whole island. In plan the structure consists of a square enclosure separated into two courts by the church. Saint John Chrysostom on Mount Kutzuventi in the Ky- renian range is a dependency of the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and receives its president from the parent establishment. Its origin and the date of its foundation are both alike unknown. That it is of very considerable antiquity is evident from the fact that Neophytos, the founder of En klistra, commenced his monastic career there in a.d. 1152. According to popular tradition it was erected by a princess, who is said to have also constructed as a residence the Castle of Buffavento upon the summit of the range immediately above it. This lady, who is represented as suffering from some skin disease, had a little dog, which was her constant companion in hermountain retreat. This animal was at length attacked by the same complaint which had already seized upon its mistress. As soon as this happened it was observed to descend the mountain daily and, after a few hours1 absence, return much benefited by its trip. It was in consequence watched and seen to bathe in a spring close by the place where the monastery was subsequently built. The princess noticing the good effect wrought upon her pet by the water resolved to try the remedy herself. So efficacious did it prove that in a few days she was restored to her former health. As a mark of gratitude to God for her marvellous recovery she erected the monastery near the healing waters and dedicated it to Saint John Chrysostom. This fountain still exists within the precincts of the monastery and is said to have lost none of its medicinal properties. A somewhat similar legend exists regarding another mineral spring in the village of Skil- loura in the Nahieh of Morphou.1 In this case it is said that a certain nobleman in ancient times had a dog suffering from themange, which was healed after its owner had one day by chance washed it with water from a sulphur spring in the village. This fountain still exists within the church, and is much resorted to by persons suffering from cutaneous disorders. The village itself derives its name from the incident, while the church is dedicated to the Virgin under the title of the Panagia Skillouriotissa. Whether the story has really been invented to account for the 1 The ancient name of this village, which appears to have been Kvvapla, may possibly have given rise to the legend. Indeed its modern appellation, XKvXXovpa, the Dog’s Tail, (Cf. Bobs oiipd) seems to recall it also.
356
THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS
Van Brnyn
(ExcerptaCypria, p. 9).
HierideB,p. 86.
considers Italian in style, as the handsomest building of its kind in the whole island. In plan the structure consists of a square enclosure separated into two courts by the church. Saint John Chrysostom on Mount Kutzuventi in the Ky- renian range is a dependency of the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and receives its president from the parent establishment. Its origin and the date of its foundation are both alike unknown. That it is of very considerable antiquity is evident from the fact that Neophytos, the founder of En klistra, commenced his monastic career there in a.d. 1152. According to popular tradition it was erected by a princess, who is said to have also constructed as a residence the Castle of Buffavento upon the summit of the range immediately above it. This lady, who is represented as suffering from some skin disease, had a little dog, which was her constant companion in hermountain retreat. This animal was at length attacked by the same complaint which had already seized upon its mistress. As soon as this happened it was observed to descend the mountain daily and, after a few hours1 absence, return much benefited by its trip. It was in consequence watched and seen to bathe in a spring close by the place where the monastery was subsequently built. The princess noticing the good effect wrought upon her pet by the water resolved to try the remedy herself. So efficacious did it prove that in a few days she was restored to her former health. As a mark of gratitude to God for her marvellous recovery she erected the monastery near the healing waters and dedicated it to Saint John Chrysostom. This fountain still exists within the precincts of the monastery and is said to have lost none of its medicinal properties. A somewhat similar legend exists regarding another mineral spring in the village of Skil- loura in the Nahieh of Morphou.1 In this case it is said that a certain nobleman in ancient times had a dog suffering from themange, which was healed after its owner had one day by chance washed it with water from a sulphur spring in the village. This fountain still exists within the church, and is much resorted to by persons suffering from cutaneous disorders. The village itself derives its name from the incident, while the church is dedicated to the Virgin under the title of the Panagia Skillouriotissa. Whether the story has really been invented to account for the 1 The ancient name of this village, which appears to have been Kvvapla, may possibly have given rise to the legend. Indeed its modern appellation, XKvXXovpa, the Dog’s Tail, (Cf. Bobs oiipd) seems to recall it also.
THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS 357 singular name ofthe village, and the inhabitants have plagiarised from the good monks of Kutzuventi, or vice versa, is a question which must be left unsolved. Pococke relates this legend of the monastery’s foundation some- Pococke, vol what differently : — ” They have a tradition that a Queen of Cyprus, who had the leprosy, chose to live here (i.e. at Buffavento) for the benefit of the air, and that Saint John Chrysostom advising her to build the convent below, she followed his counsel, and was cured of her leprosy ; others add that she bathed in a water there, which is still resorted to by persons in that distemper, who find benefit by it.11 The same traveller gives a description of the place, which, though now 150 years old, still holds good in the main : ” This monastery has been a very large building, though part of it is ruined; there are two churches, one of which, called Saint Helena, is ruinous, the other is covered with a dome, and painted all over within ; it is dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom. Be fore it is a handsome portico, from which there are three doors with fine marble cases, that do not seem to be very ancient ; two sceptres were formerly deposited behind the folding-doors, the figures of which are painted on the wall, and at the bottom there is a place where the crown was kept. All the account they can give is that they belonged to some Queen, and that they were taken away by a Pasha of Cyprus. It is probable that the regalia of Cyprus were kept there.11 The foundress, whose tomb is still pointed out in the church, is said to have been a certain Bavarian lady called Mary of Molino, but this is a very improbable story. There is behind the altar a painting, which represents Saint John presenting a man and woman to the Theotokos. From an inscription at the sakeiiarios, foot of the picture we learn that the two persons depicted above voi.T,’p”i35. were Antonio and Maria di Molino.1 This lady, who was in all likelihood the wife of some Venetian nobleman resident in Cyprus during its occupation by the Republic, may possibly have been a benefactress of the monastery, the hegoumenos of which adopted this method of commemorating her memory. From the fact of her name appearing in the inscription has arisen the legend that she was the foundress of the establishment. The community seems never to have been a large one. When Van Bruyn visited Excerpta it in 1683 it only comprised three priests and eleven monks, 1″H Seytris rys SovXys tov &eov Mapias tov (QiXiinrov) MoXivo KaX ‘ Avtwv’ivov tov QlXiirirov MoXivo.
358 THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS under the rule of a superior, whom he calls a father guardian. M^riM, Mariti in 1767 makes the number of inmates to be from ten to twelve, while the last census shows the total male inhabitants on 6th April, 1891, as thirteen.
Voyagitom. i.
p. 122.
dessaiiitees ^^ rumed monastery of Hagios Nikolaos near the promontory
Aiiemandsde 0f Akrotiri is noteworthy as being perhaps the premier monastic chypre, p. 4. settlement in Cyprus.1 Unfortunately all record of its early history and foundation has perished. That a very remote period may be assigned to it is evident from the mention in connection with it of Kalokairos, who was governor of the island during the reign of Constantine the Great (a.d. 306-a.d. 335). It only ceased to be inhabited within comparatively recent times. The ge viiiamont, Sire de Viiiamont describes it, on the occasion of his visit in p. 2%’.’ ‘ 1589, as being then almost intact, the Turks having in no way injured it when they captured the island, though they killed or expelled the monks.2 The only one of the buildings, however, in any state of repair at the present day is the chapel, which is still used for divine worship by the inhabitants of the district. The same traveller records a curious superstition, by which all the fish in the adjacent salt lake caught on the patron-saint’s 1 II est tres probable que le couvent elev£ autrefois sur le promontoire Curion, le cap aux Chats des modernes, est le premier etablissement de moines qui s’eleva dans l’Orient grec. 2 Parians ainsi l’un a l’autre arrivasmes a l’Abbaye Saint Nicolas cy dessus nommee, laquelle est edifiee joignant la mer, et est restee quasi en son entier, sans que les Tures y ayent fait dommage, lorsqu’ils usurperent Chypre sur les Venitiens en l’annee mil cinq cens septante. Bien vray est qu’ils tuerent et chasserent les Religieux de l’ordre de Saint Basile qui estoient dedans, sans avoir du depuis permis qu’aucun y fit sa demeure, tant ils sont ennemis de la Religion Chrestienne. D’avantage il me recita que lesdits Religieux y nourris- soient grand nombre de chats expressement pour prendre les serpens qui sont aux environs de la plaine, la quelle en produit plus en cest endroit qu’en nul autre endroit de l’isle, et les serpens sont du couleur blanche et noir, et ont pour le moins sept pieds de longueur, et gros comme la jambe d’un homme, de maniere que difficilement je pouvois croire qu’un chat fut victorieux d’une si grande beste, et qu’ils eussent industrie d’aller a la chasse apres eux, et de n’en retourner jusques a ce que la cloche eut sonne a midy, et que si tost qu’ils avoient disne ils continuassent leur chasse jusques au soir, sinon que le Religieux me jura l’avoir veu, ce que m’a depuis este’ confirme de plusieurs autres gens d’honneur, qui l’ont vue de mesme. Depuis que l’Abbaye est demeuree deserte, les chats sont morts par faute de nourriture. Tout aupres de l’Abbaye et de ce cap est une grande pescherie. Le grand Seigneur en tire six mille ducats de ferme chacun an, et ceux qui la tiennent a ferme, sont obligez, selon l’ancienne coustume de donner a la dite Abbaye tout le poisson qu’ils prendront le jour et la nuict de St. Nicolas, autrement ils n’en prendroient pas un seul tout le long de l’annee, ce que tiennent les habitans du pays. Et a cause que ceste Bglise est deshabitee, les fermiers payent ce devoir a l’eglise des Grecs.
THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS 359 day (6th Dec.) were formerly presented to the monastery, the captors being firmly persuaded that they would otherwise have no further luck throughout the ensuing year. In the course of time the brethren acquired a wide-spread reputation not so much for their skill as theologians, nor yet for the strictness of their rule, as for the number of cats they maintained within the precincts of their establishment. During the long drought prior to the Lusignan, visit of Saint Helena the venomous snakes, for which the island5’8 has always been noted, increased to an alarming extent. The place most infested by these pests was the region anciently called Cape Kurias, but since known as the Cape of the Cats (Capo delle Gatte) from the following circumstance.1 Kalokairos, to whom the government of the island had been entrusted at the time, determined to do all he could to remove the plague. Aware of the natural antipathy of cats for snakes he sent 1000 of these animals to the monastery, charging the public revenue with a certain annual sum for their maintenance. So successful was the expedient that the reptiles were almost exterminated. The cats were trained to return morning and evening to the monastery at the sound of a bell for their food, which was placed on long planks containing a series of circular depressions to receive it. At the time when Lusignan lived the brethren still main tained a score of these useful pets, though no urgent need for them seems to have any longer existed. Pococke questions Pococke, vol. • ii d 228 the story, but the evidence is too circumstantial to admit of ” 1 Fu chiamato questo (teneno) capo delle Gatte, perche nelli tempi ehe erano venuti da Costantinopoli li Duchi, come governatori, mandati dalli Im- peratori, et massime il primo al tempo del Magno Costantino, essendo stata 1′ Isola 30 anni, ehe non v’era piovuto, quasi era dishabitata : onde multiplicorno li serpenti, quali in greco si adimandano Cum, et penso ehe siano aspidi sordi : liquali ad una lunatione sono sordi, ad un’altra sono ciechi, et quando sono sordi, non sono ciechi, et quando sono ciechi, non sono sordi, et sono venenosi, et hanno una testa grande, et il corpo non ha ossi, et quando piglia un’ agnello, 6 un capretto, lo manda cosi intiero nella pancia a poco a poco : et dipoi va ad un’ albero, et si storze di qua et di la, insin tanto ehe siano fracassati gli ossi dell’ animale gia mangiato ; et quando more, odora come muschio. — Ma li serpenti Cuffi si ritrovano per l’isola et spesso, et in quelli tempi erano gia generati assai, onde volendo il Duca Callocero esterminarli, perche abondavano assai in questo capo per essere un boschetto, messe piu di mille gatti in San Nicolo detto in greco de’ Acrotiri. II Duca havendovi posti li gatti, li fece anchora la sua provisione, accioche non mangiassero sempre cose venenose, et ehe fussero estirpati : onde mattina et sera erano avezzati al suono della campana, et tutti correano, et haveano apparecchiato in certe asse di legno larghe, et in mezo erano concavi a modo delle scudelle, et di dentro li mettevano le minestre : accio ehe fussero tutte accommodate, dipoi il resto del tempo andavano alia caccia de’ serpenti, et cosi gli hanno estirpati quasi tutti, pero quel Monasterio anchora tiene una vintina de’ gatti, et per questo quel capo fu adimandato il capo delle gatte,
360 THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS doubt. For instance, De Viiiamont owns that he would have found great difficulty in believing it had not his informant sworn to the truth of it from personal knowledge, and his statement been corroborated by others who had also wit nessed it. Marvellous, too, are the reports as to the size of these noxious reptiles. The last-named writer, who describes them as being black and white in colour, asserts that they were at least seven feet in length and as thick as a man’s thigh. Lusignan, however, surpasses him in his flights of imagination. He says that these snakes were called Cuffi by the Greeks, being blind and deaf alternate months, while they were accustomed on swallowing a lamb or a kid, to coil themselves round a tree in order to crush Menxsins. the bones of their victim. But after what Martinus Crusius on IS.lib. i.,
Cyprus,
p-‘tc- ‘the authority of one Stamatius Donatus, a Cypriot, writes con cerning a mysterious kind of beast, which had its habitat on Mount Olympus (Stavro Vouni), we can no longer question the ability of the island mouser to attack and subdue even such formidable opponents as these.1 According to this veracious chronicler there was to be found on that mountain a species of quadruped resembling a snake in the shape of its body and tail, as long as a horse and fairly tall, with a skin so thick as to be impervious to anything but a bullet, which devoured all human beings unfortunate enough to come in its way. The cats used to hunt it either singly or in couples, and to kill it by springing on its back and tearing out the eyes. As one reads this outrageous yarn one cannot help suspecting that his informant was slyly endeavouring to gauge the extent of the worthy Crusius1 credulity.2 The writer at any rate is thankful to think that during a residence of some days on Mount Olympus he never encountered any of these truly alarming monsters. Lujtaan, During the later period of the Latin occupation the Orthodox are said to have possessed in Nikosia four houses for men and ‘Ait, in Olympo, qui solus in Cipro sit mons, animal, corpore et Cauda btpioeiSes, quadrupes, magnum, longitudine equi, et satis altum, robusta pelle, ferrum non curans, sed bombardas, homines obviam venientes devorans : vinci tamen a catto uno, aut duobus, insidiantibus, insilientibus, oculos magnos eruentibus, et necantibus (Martinus Crusius, Turcogrcecice , lib. ii.). Menratua 2 Meursius at least seems to have had considerable doubts as to Donatus’ Cyprus, lib. t, bona fides since, when chronicling another of his flights of imagination, he remarks: ” Imposuit Martino Crusio, viro bono et erudito, Graeculus ille Stamatius Donatus,” an opinion which will find very general acceptance.
THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS 361 the same number for women also.1 Some have since been dis-rui solved, while others have been converted into parish churches, p-41- The names of those for men are : — 1. St. John Bibi. As this establishment will be more fully noticed elsewhere the mere mention of its name here will alone be sufficient. 2. St. George of Mankana,2 situated on the outskirts of strambaldi, Nikosia was constructed by Helena Palaeologos, the Greek con-Iurtgmuli sort of Jean II., about 1453 for the reception of certain fugitive ^ “J*^ monks, who had escaped to the island on the capture of Con-?-3”- stantinople by Mohammed II. After existing for little more than a century it was demolished by the Venetians in 1567 when reconstructing the fortifications of the capital. Its endowment, which originally amounted to 1500 ducats annually, had by the end of the fifteenth century sunk to 600. The foundress hadmst.deohyp., given orders that her interment should take place within the “”‘ walls, but the Dominicans of Nikosia prevented their execution by refusing to deliver up the body. 3. Andrio and 4, Sergi Flatro are the names of the remaining two. According to Kyprianos one of these, though he is un- Kyprfano., certain which, has since been converted into the Church of the Archangel Michael situated in the Tripioti quarter of the town, while all traces of the other seem to have totally disappeared. It was the hegoumenos of Andrio who officiated at all episcopal Lusigan, ordinations in the absence of any of the three remaining Ortho dox prelates.3 But the list is by no means yet exhausted, for in the Consti- Raynaidi, tutio Cypria (a.d. 1260) 4 mention is also made ofthe church orNo. 49.’ 1 Li Religiosi de’ Monaci et Monache di San Basilio sono assai. De’ Monaci in Nicosia sono 4 : Bibi, Andrio, Manchana, et Sergi Flatro. De Monache 4 ; Palluriotissa, hora Santo Magedoni, Ienechio, Santi omnes, et Faneromeni. 2 Et essendo ehe del 1453 ha tuolto l’infidel Turco Costantinopoli, ha fatto gran lamento la signora regina (Helena Paleologo) in Cipro ; et venero in Cipro molte cose buone, et nobili monachi. Ha voluto et ha tuolto et fatto fabricar monasterio, fuori delta citta, nominato san Zorzi de Mangana ; et ha fatto molte intrade nel ditto monasterio, per esser fatte le sue commemorationi ; et cosi fanno fino al presente. Fabrico un Monasterio greco detto Manchana, et donogli dui casali, et ornollo di privilegii. Fece edificare il monastero di Mangana, et li diede casali ed entrate per piu di 1500 ducati all’ anno. 3 Dipoi si fa consecrare da 3 altri vescovi greci, et se non saranno se non due, l’abbate del monasterio di Antrio debba supplire per l’altro absente. 4 Praefato vero Germano archiepiscopo dictas sedem et ecclesiam de Solia, tam in spiritualibus, quam temporalibus, de eisdem consilio et potestate, com- mittimus, sibi retentis semper dignitatis archiepiscopalis honoie ac nomine,
362 THE CHURCH OF CYPRUS monastery of St. Barnabas, which was assigned by Alexander IV. as an alternative residence for the then Orthodox primate, Ger manos, in place of Solea. Moreover the letter written in 1223 by the Oecumenical Patriarch, Germanos, to the Cypriots men tions yet another called Apsinthi (rwv ,A-^riv0Uov). But, as no particulars are given as to its position, it cannot with certainty be included among the monasteries of the capital. Its hegou menos, Leontios, was one of the two delegates sent to Germanos at Nica?a after the expulsion of Archbishop Neophytos by the Latins. The names ofthe houses for women as given by Lusignan are : — 1. Palluriotissa. 2. Ienechio. 3. All Saints, and 4, Phanero mene. The two following lists show the monasteries, classed under their respective dioceses, as existing when Kyprianos wrote, and also at the present, time. The second, which may be regarded as containing the latest information on the subject, being com piled from returns supplied to the Ecclesiastical Properties Commission lately sitting at Nikosia, is given exactly as received by the writer : — The Archbishopric.1 1. Hagia Napa. 2. Mavrovouni. 3. Tochni. 4. Hagios Spyridon. 5. Hagios Anastasios. 6. Avgasis. 7. Kouratha. 8. Chordakii. 9. Apostolos Barnabas. 10. Kantara. 11. Kana- karia. 12. Hagia Photeine. 13. Makedonitissa. 14. Libadiotissa. 15. Neta. 16. Hagios Nikolaos of Davlos. 17. Hagios Kendeas. 18. Maloura. 19. Hagia Thekla. 20. Archangelos of Analionta. 21. Machaera. 22. Prophetes Elias. 23. Hagios Herakleidios. 24. Hagios Mnason. 25. Hagios Panteleemon of Achera. 26. Palourgiotissa.episcopaliter gubernandas ; ita tamen quod ei sit liberum, vel in dicta sede de Solia, vel apud ecclesiam Graecorum beati Barnaba? Nicosiensis, quam ad epis copum sedis ejusdem, ex hujusmodi nostrse ordinationis beneficio, pertinere perpetuo volumus, pro libito commorari. 1 Archbishopric : — 2. Mavrovouni (St. George). Buildings ruined except the church. Let as a farm. 8. Chordakiotissa (tojc XopSaKiwv), near Sotira, south of Famagusta. A church only exists which is reckoned as an appendix to Hagia Napa. 17. Hagios Kendeas, no monks there. 18. Maloura (Archangelos), near Goshi, a ruin. ig. Hagia Thekla, let as a farm. 23. Hagios Herakleides. In this monastery are preserved the relics of that
Stauropegia. 1. Kykko. 2. Hagia Enklistra at Paphos. 3. Hagia Mone, Metochion of Kykko at Paphos. 4. Piani, Metochion of Kykko at Paphos. 5. Sinte, Metochion of Kykko at Paphos. 6. Hagios Nikolaos Stege at Solea. 7. Kathari at Kyrenia. Paphos. 1. Trooditissa. 2. Stavros of Omodos. 3. Hagii Anargyri of Phini. 4. Pente Litharia. 5. Stavros of Anogyra. 6. Hagios Sabbas. 7. Salamiou. 8. Haginikoloudin. 9. Hagios Georgios Koumanou. 10. Hagios Onesiphoros. 11. Chrysorrhogiatissa. 12. Stavros of Mitha. 13. Zalakia. 14. Chrysolakourna. 15. Hagii Anargyri of Giolo. 16. Hagios Nikolaos Nikoxylites. Kition. 1. Mesapotamos. 2. Hagios Nikolaos of Ergasterion. 3. Hagia Mavra. 4. Archangelos of Monagri. 5. Amasgou. 6. Sphalan- giotissa. 7. Hagios Nikolaos of Akrotiri. 8. Amerou. 9. Stavrovouni. 10. Hagios Menas. 11. Stavros of Kouka. 12. Megas Agros. 13. Iamatike.
fynm 