Makheras Monastery

Makheras Monastery Cyprus Usefull Information

This was named the 'Convent of the Sword', either because of the cutting winds which in winter blow from Mount Kionia or because of a belief that the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary which the founders of the monastery discovered in a cave was guarded by a naked sword. As a result of divine revelation, the hermits Ignatius and Neophytos began building in the twelfth century. (This Neophytos is not to be confused with the saint of the same name who formed his enclosure near Paphos.) Ignatius and Procopius, the successor to Neophytos, were dismayed at the slowness of their labours, so they journeyed to Constantinople in quest of funds. Here they petitioned Manuel Comnenus, Emperor of Byzantium 1143-80, who awarded them fifty pieces of gold from the imperial treasury, a grant of a large tract of mountain and a promise of absolute independence in perpetuity. As soon as the travellers returned to Cyprus and news of the icon spread abroad, numbers of monks and aspirants flocked to Makheras, and work proceeded fast. Nilos, a foreigner who arrived in 1172, was the first abbot. Legend relates that Queen Alix, the wife of Hugues IV, being a d'lbelin and of the Latin faith, and therefore disdainful of Orthodox rulings, forced her way into the church though it was forbidden to women, whereupon she was struck dumb, and did not recover her speech until under duress she was forced to testify to the authenticity of a fragment of the True Cross.

The monastic buildings and the church were totally destroyed by fire in 1892, resulting in complete replanning, reconstruction and loss of early architectural features. However, the site itself is superb, with views north across the Mesaoria. The immediate surroundings of wooded valleys and hill side vineyards are very beautiful indeed. Below the high buttressed walls of the monastery is the renowned Holy Well, possessing an endless flow of water, near which the original icon was found. This icon miraculously escaped the fire which destroyed the monastery, and it is preserved in the new church, covered with repousse work on account of its extreme antiquity and sanctity.

The Monastery of Makheras was very active in the EOKA troubles, and harboured many fighters, one of whom, Gregory Afxentious, second in command to Grivas, has been adopted as a national hero in memory of the battle he put up against overwhelming odds. His mountain hide-out, where he at last fell, has become a place of pilgrimage.

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