Holy Royal and Stavropegic Monastery of Machairas "Journey to Heaven"
© 2020 Holy Royal and Stavropegic Monastery of Machairas
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Narration: Father Joseph Coleman, Costas Charalampidis, Αlbion (Ilias) Land, Dimitry Rozental (Sag-Aftra)
On this visual tour, you will learn the history and the contemporary presence of the Monastery of Machairas - the buildings, the services of worship, as well as the daily life and various activities of the monks.
Music: Sotiris Karagiorgis, Evagoras Karagiorgis, Audio Network, Audioblocks.
Chants: Vatopedi Monastery, Abbot Arsenios, Machairas Monastery.
All copyright and protection rights are reserved.
Legend has it that an unknown hermit smuggled one of the 70 icons said to have been painted by Luke the Apostle secretly from Asia Minor to Cyprus. This icon of the Virgin Mary remained in its hiding place until the arrival of two other hermits from Palestine in 1145: Neophytos and Ignatius who stumbled across the icon in a cave. To reach it, they had to machete their way into the cave through the thick plant growth, so the icon assumed the name 'Machairotissa' in reference to the Greek word for knife μαχαίρι (Makhaira). The whole monastery founded on this site takes its name from this icon.
Following the death of Neophytos, Ignatios traveled with Prokopios (another hermit) to Constantinople in the year 1172 where they succeeded in obtaining financial assistance from the then Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. The initial monastery was then enlarged by the monk Neilos in the early 13th century. He became the first abbot of the monastery (later he even became bishop of Tamassos). The monastery received further grants from two other Byzantine emperors: Emperor Isaac II Angelos granted cash and land in Nicosia and Emperor Alexios III Angelos donated 24 serfs.
The Byzantine era was followed by the period of Latin conquest (1192-1571).
The Monastery of Maheras participated actively in this resistance, and in 1231 two of its monks, Gerasimos and Gennadios received the crown of martyrdom, along with eleven other monks from the Monastery of the All-Holy Virgin of Kantara. In championing the holy faith of the Orthodox Church, these thirteen monks were burnt alive by the Latin conquerors, and have since been declared saints of the Church.
The period of Latin conquest ended with the occupation of the island by the Turks, who held it for three centuries (1571-1878).
During this period, a school was functioning at the monastery, where literacy, arts, and ecclesiastical music were taught. The monastery also contributed to the development of education by granting land for the establishment of the first Hellenic Academy, the Pancyprian High School in Lefkosia. In those years from the Monastery came forth Archbishop Kyprianos. His refusal to flee from Cyprus, to renounce his faith in order to survive, and his martyrdom at the hands of the Turks on the 9th of July, was a vivid example to the Christians, who were inspired not to deny their faith, but to endure the evils of slavery.
The English colonialists purchased the island from its Turkish conquerors in 1878.
During that period, the monastery was connected with the liberation struggle because Gregorios Afxentiou, the second in command of EOKA, often found refuge there and in its surrounding vicinity.
However, upon his having been betrayed, he was discovered in his hideout which is located near the monastery, and after a long battle, they burned him alive on the 3rd of March 1957.
The succession in the abbacy by the Athonite priest-monk Athanasios (1993) was an important milestone, as it marked the beginning of the modern history of the monastery.
The new abbot wholly renovated the monastery, structurally and spiritually, converting it into a coenobium according to the traditional models of the ancient coenobitic monasteries, which have survived through centuries on Mount Athos.
After the election of fr. Athanasios as Metropolitan of Limassol in 1999, he was succeeded as abbot by Archimandrite Arsenios. However, unexpectedly, he died, together with the Patriarch of Alexandria Petros, when the helicopter in which they were traveling crashed into the sea on the 11th of September 2004.
Today, the abbot of the monastery is His Eminence the Bishop of Ledra Epiphanios.
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