COLLEGE - LIMASSOL
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
HISTORY OF CYPRUS
LECTURE 6
TOPICS
 Christianity in Cyprus
 The introduction of Christianity and its implications.
 The development of the Church of Cyprus.
 The Crusades.
Christianity on Cyprus
 In 45 A.D., the apostles Paul and Barnabas arrived
on the island, and they were accompanied by Mark
the Evangelist.
 They arrived in Paphos, which, at that time was
the seat of the Roman Proconsul Sergius Paulus
who was the first to be converted by Apostle Paul.
 The conversion followed a great miracle performed
on the magical Elima, who was first blinded and
then cured.
Christianity on Cyprus
 This miracle and the fact than the proconsul was
the first to be baptized into Christianity,
encouraged many Cypriots to convert and become
Christians.
Apostle Barnavas
Apostle Paul
Marc the Evangelist
Martyrdom by Apostle Barnabas
 The two apostles left the island after first
organizing the church and appointing bishops.
 Apostle Barnabas returned later and became the
Bishop of Salamis.
 During the persecution of the Christians by
Emperor Nero, Barnabas was captured by the Jews
of the city and was then subjected to martyrdom.
Martyrdom by Apostle Barnab
 According to the ‘‘Acts of Apostles’’ he was then
buried by his nephew Mark the Evangelist, who
placed on the chest of Barnabas a manuscript of
the Gospel by Mathew.
 The remains of Apostle Barnabas, together with
the Gospel were discovered by Anthemios, Bishop
of Constantia in 485 A.D.
The first bishops
 The first bishop was Heraklidios, Bishop of
Tamassos.
 Bishop Heraklidios ordained Epaphras as Bishop
of Paphos.
 Tychikos was ordained Bishop of Neapolis, today’s
Limassol, and Auxibius was ordained Bishop
of Soloi by St. Mark the Evangelist.
 Saint Lazarus was ordained Bishop of Kition.
The first Oecumenical SynodSt. Spyridon
 At the first Oecumenical Synod at Necaea in
325 A.D., Cyprus was represented by three
bishops, Cyril of Paphos, Gelasius of Salamis, and
Spyridon of Tremithus.
 Spyridon was to become the famous saint who was
martyred.
Saint Spyridon
Monastic life Saint Hilarion
 Monastic life flourished in Cyprus since the fourth
century A.D.
 Monasteries were established in the valleys of
Marathasa like that of St. John Lambadistis which
was founded next to St. Heraklidios monastery.
 The trend for monastic life is connected to the
arrival of St. Hilarion in the island.
Monastic life Saint Hilarion
 Together with Saint Antony, Hilarion had lived for
a very long time in the desert.
 He organized monastic life on the island and his
name is connected with the Castle of Saint
Hilarion, in the mountains over Kyrenia.
 He died in 371 A.D.
Saint Hilarion
Castle of Saint Hilarion
The Byzantine period
The Autocephalous Church of Cyprus
 Under Emperor Constantine the Great, Cyprus was
administratively placed under the Eastern
Administration with Antiochia as the capital.
 The patriarchs of Antiochia demanded that the
church of Cyprus should also come under them.
The Byzantine period
The Autocephalus Church of Cyprus
 They based their demand on the consularius, or
governor of Cyprus, who was appointed by the
Count of Antiochia, as well as on a forged canon of
the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea which stated
that the patriarch of Antiochia had the right to
nominate the archbishop of Cyprus.
Third Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus
 The Antiochia’s demands were presented to Pope
Innocent the first Patriarch Alexander who was
only attempting to strengthen his own personal
position.
 The Bishops of Cyprus defied an order from the
Pope to comply
Third Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus
 They repeated their refusal in 431 A.D., when they
ignored instructions from the Count of Antiochia
Flavius Dionysus and elected Reginus to replace
the bishop of Constantia Theodoros, and thus
rejected any intervention from the Patriarch of
Antiochia.
Third Ecumenical Synod of Ephesus
 On his election, Reginus,accompanied by three
other Bishops proceeded to Ephesus where the
Third Ecumenical Synod was meeting, and
managed to gain approval of the famous Eight
Canon of Ephesus, which gave recognition to
the autocephalus character of the Church of
Cyprus.
Artemios and the remains of Barnabas
 Even after this ruling, those in Antiochia, acting on the
basis of some vague wording of the 8th canon, continued to
promote their demands.
 While this was going on, Bishop Anthemios of Constantia
saw a vision of Saint Barnabas, who pointed out to
him the place of his burial.
Artemios and the remains of Barnabas
 He found the place with the saint’s remains and
the hand-written Gospel by Matthew on his chest,
as it was placed there by Mark the Evangelist.
 This discovery left no doubt that the Church of
Cyprus was indeed an Apostolic Church and that as
such, it had every right to be recognized as
autocephalus.
Final recognition and privileges
 Anthemios took the saints remains and the Gospel
and went to Constantinople.
 He requested that Emperor Zenon should put an
end to the dispute with Antioch.
 Zenon called a special session of the synod in
Constantinople in 448 A.D., which, without any
shadow of a doubt, ratified the 8th canon of
Ephesus, closing the affair once and for all.
Final recognition and privileges
 Before leaving Constantinople, Anthemios
presented the Gospel to the Emperor and it was
placed within the chapel of Saint Stephen, which
was in the Royal Palace, with instructions that it
should be read from during the Easter Services.
Final recognition and privileges
The Emperor granted the following privileges to
Anthemios and his successors:
a) to sign in red ink like the emperors
b) to carry a royal scepter instead of the customary
Pastoral Staff
c) to wear a red claok.


These privileges are enjoyed by the
archbishops of Cyprus up to date.
Revolts by governors
 There was a part of the governors who aspired to
become independent grandies.
 The first such revolt took place in 1042 A.D., by
Theophilos Erotikos who was appointed the
island’s administrator by Emperor Michael the
Fourth, two years earlier.
Revolts by governors
 After Michael’s death and his succession by
Emperor Zoe, Theophilos incited the Cypriots to
revolt and placed himself at the head of this act
against the throne. The revolt, was suppressed by
Zoe’s successor, Constantine the Gladiator one
year later.
Rapsomatis revolt 1092 A.D.
 The revolt by Rapsomatis broke out in 1092 A.D.
 The emperor Alexios Comnenos sent Ioannis
Dukas to restore order.
 He first suppressed the revolt on the other islands,
and then he attacked Cyprus and managed to
capture Kyrenia in a surprise attack.
Rapsomatis revolt 1092 A.D.
 Rapsomatis, who had massed his forces in Nicosia,
hastily fortified the pass at Boghaz in his effort to
stop Dukas’ advance under the command of
general Emmanouil Voutomitis.
 Many of Rapsomatis’s forces deserted to
Voutomitis and this forced the renegade
administrator to flee in haste to Limassol from
where he hoped to escape.
Rapsomatis revolt 1092 A.D.
 Voutomitis gave chase and forced Rapsomatis
to take shelter at the Monastery of Stavrovouni,
where he was captured.
Fortification of Cyprus
 The time when these developments were taking place
were extremely critical for the Byzantine empire
because of the Crusades, with which they coincided.
 Thus the island became very essential to the Byzantine
Emperors for obvious and very strategic reasons.
Alexios Komnenos resolved to fortify the island and
built the castles of Saint Hilarion, Buffavento, and
Kantara on the Pentadaktylos range.
Fortification of Cyprus
 He appointed commanders of these castles who he
could trust implicitly.
Fortification of Cyprus
Bufavento
Kantara castle
The first Crusades
 Right from the First Crusade its shores were
plundered by crusaders who, however, were
defeated by Commander Filokalis when they
attempted a large scale landing in 1099 A.D.
 Another operation by Prince Renaldo of Antioch,
in 1155 A.D., did not have the same fate.
The first Crusades
 Under the excuse that the emperor had reneged on some
promise, the prince attacked and captured the
island.
 He also took prisoners both Dukas and Ioannis Comnenos,
a nephew of the emperor Manuel Comnenos.
 In 1159 A.D. he was forced to abandon the island
because he could not face the emperor’s forces sent against
him.
The Crusades
The crusades
References
Cleanthis, P. Georgiades, History of Cyprus, 2nd
Edition 1993.