Hestia Group News

The Karpas wild donkeys are seen as a symbol of cyprus. Recently both Greek and Turkish Cypriots have united together on their divided island to save these endangered wild donkeys… The initiative was launched by a group of people on the social networking website ‘Facebook’ after discovering 10 donkeys were found shot dead at the end of March 2008. “Let’s stop the massacre of Karpas donkeys!” says a message from the group, which has already attracted more than 2,000 members to date. The Karpas Peninsula in Northern cyprus is home to several hundred donkeys.

The Facebook group says the Karpas donkeys “are the symbol of cyprus and it is our responsibility to protect them”. The messages which are posted in both Greek and Turkish, are a new gesture of unity on the island, whose communities remain divided by a UN-patrolled buffer zone.

A group of Greek and Turkish Cypriots rallied on a beach in the Karpas Peninsula on 13 April to “Save the cyprus donkey“. The Karpas donkeys are a legacy of the 1974 Turkish invasion of northern cyprus, when Greek Cypriot farmers fled the area, leaving their animals behind, the AFP news agency reports.
 
This article was reported on BBC news, 22nd April 08.

Driving around cyprus in your hire Car you will see a huge variety of flowers, bushes, shrubs and trees. One of the more interesting and native to the Eastern Mediterranean region is the Carob Tree. The Carob was highly prized by the Ancient Greeks amongst others, it has been cultivated for at least 4000 years and there are references to it in the Bible.  It has been called ‘St John’s bread’ or ‘locust bean’, and for a time it was thought that this referred to the ‘locusts’ that St John ate during his time in the wilderness.  However, although St John might have found the carob pod more palatable, he did in fact survive on the migratory insect variety!

The seeds of the carob were used as weights measure for gold, hence the name ‘carat’.  In other countries, the seeds have been ground and used as a coffee substitute, but here in cyprus, the ground seeds are made into Carob Honey or ‘charoupomelo’, a sticky, rich confection rather like molasses in consistency and delicious when it is enjoyed with bread or yoghurt and also used to flavour milkshakes.  The honey can be taken a stage further by kneading and stretching until it becomes a golden caramel colour and can be eaten as chewy toffee ‘pastelli’, often covered with sesame seeds.

Technically a legume, the carob is probably best known as a popular cocoa substitute, probably because it has only 1/3 the calories and is virtually fat free!  The ground-up pods are used for this and contain important vitamins and minerals and are used in many health foods.  The pods have also been widely used as animal feed and are relished by goats, pigs, cattle and rabbits, with carob flour being used in dog biscuits.

Remnants of the carob’s place in cyprus history can be found in Limassol next to the Medieval Castle near the old port.  The Carob Mill played a vital part in cyprus economy of the time and the carob became one of the islands’ most important exports.  It became known locally as ‘Black Gold’ and the mill which was originally built as warehouses, became the production centre for carobs where they would be collected, separated into the sub products, and then ground before being carried by donkey to the port nearby for global distribution.  The Mill is now a fascinating collection of restaurants, cafes and shops, and old mill machinery can be found dating from 19th century.

The major religion of the Greek Cypriot population is Greek Orthodox.

There are also the smaller religious groups of Muslims, the Anglicans, Roman and Latin Christians, Maronites, Armenian Orthodox, Greek Evangelics, Jews and others including New Life International Church cyprus (Community of Hope), Seventh-Day Adventist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Religion – as epitomised by the Orthodox Church across many centuries - is very firmly woven into the fabric of cyprus society reflecting its power, influence and dominance in the life of the country. This contrasts with the UK, where diverse religious creeds are arguably in greater competition with each other for the religious affiliations of its people.

The religious practices of the Cypriot Orthodox Church compare and contrast significantly to those found within the diverse communities of the broadly Christian type churches of the UK. The service does not use a choir. The balcony, or choir loft, found in most churches is reserved for women and is called the ginekonitis. On the ground level of the church, men usually also sit on one side and women on the other.

The Church of cyprus is an autocephalous church in the Orthodox tradition using the liturgy of mainland Greece. It recognized the seniority and prestige of the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople, while retaining complete administrative autonomy under its own archbishop. The Great Schism, as the split between Catholic and Orthodox became known, had major consequences for the Church of cyprus. Under Lusignan and Venetian rule, the Church of cyprus was pressured to recognize the authority of the Roman pope. The imposed Roman hierarchy attempted to remould the Church of cyprus in the image of the Western church. Under the Muslim Ottomans, Cypriots were no longer considered schismatics, but merely unbelievers and followers of an inferior religion.

As such they were allowed considerable autonomy, and the archbishop was the officially recognized secular as well as religious leader of his community

Under British rule there was an attempt to secularize all public institutions, but this move was bitterly opposed by church authorities, who used the conflict with the state to gain leadership of the Greek nationalist movement against colonial rule. At independence Archbishop Makarios III, a young, Western-educated former monk, was elected president of the Republic, holding this position until his death in 1977. His successor, Archbishop Chrysostomos, was still head of the Church of cyprus at the beginning of the 1990s. He was a conservative leader, both in religious and political matters, well-suited for a church that had never undergone reforms similar to those instituted by the Second Vatican Council for the Roman Catholic Church.

The church had long been composed of four episcopal sees: the archbishopric of Nicosia, and the Metropolitanates of Paphos, Kition, and Kyrenia. New Metropolitanates were created by Makarios in 1973 for Limassol and Morphou, with a suffragan (or assistant) bishop in Salamis under the archbishop. A bishop had to be a graduate of the Orthodox theological seminary in Greece and be at least thirty years of age. Since Orthodox bishops were sworn to a vow of celibacy and parish clergy were usually married, bishops were recruits from monasteries rather than parish churches. Bishops were not appointed by the archbishop, but, like him, were elected through a system granting representation to laymen, other bishops, abbots, and regular clergy.

Individual churches, monasteries, dioceses, and charitable educational institutions organized by the Church of cyprus were independent legal persons enjoying such rights and obligations as holding property. In exchange for many church lands acquired by the government, the government assumed responsibility for church salaries. Parish clergy, traditionally married men chosen by their fellow villagers, were sent for brief training before ordination. In the twentieth century, modernisers, most notably Archbishop Makarios, were instrumental in strengthening the quality and training of priests at the Cypriot seminary in Nicosia

The monasteries of cyprus had always been very important to the Church of cyprus. By the twentieth century many had long lain in ruins, but their properties were among the most important holdings of the church, the island’s largest landowner. Although the number of monks decreased in the postwar era, in the early 1990s there were at least ten active monasteries in the government-controlled areas

In the Orthodox church, ritual was to a great extent the centre of the church’s activity, for Orthodox doctrine emphasises ‘the mystery of God’s grace rather than salvation through works and knowledge’. Seven sacraments are recognized: baptism in infancy, followed by confirmation with consecrated oil, penance, the Eucharist, matrimony, ordination, and unction in times of sickness or when near death.

Formal services are lengthy and colourful, with singing, incense, and elaborate vestments according to the occasion for the presiding priest. Statues are forbidden, but the veneration of icons, located on the church’s walls and often covered with offerings of the faithful, is highly developed. Easter is the focus of the church year, closing the Lenten fasting with an Easter Eve vigil and procession. marriage is a highly ritualized occasion. Formal divorce proceedings are required for broken engagements that have been ratified by the church. The wedding sponsors play an important role in the family, for they usually act as godparents of all children born of that marriage union.

religious observance varies. In traditional rural villages, women attend services more frequently than men, and elderly family members are usually responsible for fulfilling religious duties on behalf of the whole family. Church attendance is less frequent in urban areas and among educated Cypriots. For much of the population, religion focuses on rituals at home, veneration of icons, and observance of certain feast days of the Orthodox calendar.

Details of non-Orthodox church services are published in the English-language newspaper The cyprus Mail / Sunday Mail.

In this modern era there is perhaps a tendency to believe that we have a monopoly on wisdom and an exclusive franchise on the ability to mould and shape the world in which we live. We may have inherited some knowledge from the past, but ‘now’ is what it’s all about? How many versions of the same ‘truth’ do we get from the various newspaper, radio and TV media that relate the news of the day? A brief look at time soon shows that we are merely the current inheritors of history – complete with religious traditions and time-honoured tales stretching back thousands of years telling it like it was. And nations, which today are seen almost as understudies on the world stage, were once in the ascendancy and reigned supreme in ‘their’ world.

One of the most influential and powerful nations the world has ever witnessed, Greece boasted an extensive, diverse, and polytheistic religion. Greek legends are (and were) so engaging and well-known that the actual word “mythology” is derived from their language, the world “mythologia” Continue Reading »

What makes a tourist attraction a tourist attraction? This question is possibly a permanent item on the agenda of national tourist organisations the world over – and in cyprus the issue is probably much the same.

The island’s very existence is rooted in ancient civilisation and mythology. Paphos is a prime example. St.Paul’s pillar within the compound of the church of Chrysopolitissa is where, by tradition, Saint Paul was flogged. A few kilometers from the main town is Aphrodite’s Rock, which juts out of the Mediterranean Sea at the spot where Aphrodite, the mythological goddess of love is said to have emerged from the sea in 1200BC.

People come from across the world to visit these locations – yet more recent events have added to the interest value of visiting Paphos. One such object - of nautical attention - can be seen whilst traveling along the main Paphos to Coral Bay Road.

On 23 March 1998, the Honduran-flagged M/V Demetrios II ran aground off Paphos Lighthouse, close to Chloraka Village, in heavy seas during a voyage from Greece to Syria with a cargo of timber.
When the accident took place, the ship had eight crew members - four Greeks, two Pakistanis and two Syrians. The crew were rescued and airlifted to the safety of Paphos by a British Military Helicopter.

At the time of the incident, reports in the English-language newspaper  ‘The cyprus Mail’ stated that seafarers certificates issued for some of the crew of the cargo ship were forged - confirmed in a report appearing in Lloyds List that the competency certificates issued for the Greek captain and the Pakistani first officer were “high-quality” Liberian fakes.
The Demetrios II was left stranded on rocks near the Paphos lighthouse, where it remains to this day – a fascinating landmark and an item of noteworthy interest!

One of the great joys of getting away from it all and visiting a sun-soaked island like cyprus is that you also have a chance to get away from your comfort zone, explore new places and get to know more about a culture that goes back thousands of years.

This particular culture includes the longstanding tradition of wine-making. How often do we really think about where our bottle of wine actually comes from when we pick up the latest bargain from the supermarket or the off licence? Not very often perhaps? So why not take advantage of the opportunity to fill this gap in your knowledge and get even more satisfaction from your stay in cyprus? Continue Reading »

The castle of Kolossi, also known as Kulas, is one of the most important extant fortification works in cyprus from the era of Frankish domination and is directly linked to important events of the history of cyprus. The most important of these being the conquest of the island by Richard Coeur-de-lion (Richard the Lionheart of England) and later on by the Knights Templar and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitallers).

Kolossi Castle is a fine example of military architecture originally constructed in the 13th century and subsequently rebuilt in its present form in the middle of the 15th century. It served first as the Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar and, after the fall of Acre in 1291, for some years as the headquarters of the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

Kolossi and its castle are directly connected with several key events in the tempestuous history of cyprus. In 1191 Richard the Lionheart of England conquered cyprus after it had been ruled by Isaac Commenus. Isaac Comnenus was the Byzantine Continue Reading »

During the past twenty years there have been a number of discoveries that have greatly enhanced our knowledge of the early prehistory of cyprus. Currently, the earliest confirmed site of human activity on the island is Aetokremnos situated on the Akrotiri Peninsula on the south coast. This site indicates that hunter-gatherers were active on the island from around 10,000 BC. There is also new evidence that suggests that there may be short lived occupation sites contemporary with Aeotokremnos on the west coast of the island in the area of the Akamas, and on the east at Nissi Beach.At present the archaeological record Continue Reading »