NORDZYPERN - JUWEL AM RANDE EUROPAS

St. Mamas Monastery and Icon museum One of the most revered Orthodox churches in Cyprus is the St. Mamas Monastery in Güzelyurt . Many people come to the monastery with faith and hope for help from the saint, whose sarcophagus with relics is embedded in one of the walls of the monastery. On the Icon St. Mamas is portrayed riding on the back of a lion and holding a lamb in his arms. Legend says that St. Mamas was a humble and poor man living in a cave in the Guzelyurt district. The town administrator of the time declared a mandate that everyone living on the island was bound to pay tax, but St. Mamas refused to, claiming that he lived in a cave up in the mountain. The furious duke ordered St. Mamas to be arrested and delivered to Nicosia, two soldiers escorted him. While on the way to Nicosia, St. Mamas saw a lion jump on a lamb. Witnessed by the terrified soldier, St. Mamas saved the lamb from the claws of the lion, taking it in his arms and then riding the lion until ...

The St Barnabas Monastery and Icon museum once marked the Western boundary of the ancient city of Salamis and is situated close to the Royal Tombs between Tuzla and Salamis . The site consists of a church, now an icon museum, a monastery, displaying an archaeological collection, and a chapel supposedly housing the remains of the saint himself. The buildings that we see today date from the 1750s. Once the center of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, the monastery is still in good condition. Outside the church, there is a courtyard, surrounded on three sides by buildings that once housed the monks and pilgrims coming to pray at the monastery. St Barnabas was one of the founders of the independent Cyprus Orthodox Church and is the patron saint of Cyprus. He was born in Salamis to a Jewish family who had emigrated from Syria to Cyprus. Barnabas spent most of his life in Jerusalem studying religion until he was finally appointed archbishop of his native Salamis. However, on his r...