CHURCHES
THE CHURCH
Greek Orthodoxy remains very much the focus of Village life as is witnessed by the number of churches serving the community. The main church, Apostolos Andreas in the centre of the Village, was built in 1883, taking 12 years to complete. In the interior the visitor can admire the old pictures and the wooden-made chancel screen.
The main event of the religious year in the Village is the celebration of St Andrew’s Day, 19th September, when there is a procession through the village. The main national event (see the calendar of national dates in the information section) is Green Monday, when families return to the Village in great numbers to celebrate Easter together with great vegetarian feasts, often out in the countryside. This is when you will see the traditional kite-flying.
Father Niarchos
Father Niarchos, who is proving a much-loved and influential priest in Pissouri, came to the Village from Phini, his wife’s village, where he was co-priest for 12 years. He speaks good English.
His telephone number is 99 467550.
OTHER CHURCHES
The Anglican Vicar of Limassol is the Rev Canon Derek Smith (25-362713). In the Village we have both the Rev Canon Marvin Bamforth, 99 539144, and the Rev Rod Price, 25 222213 who recently retired. Both of them conduct wedding services with the permission of the Vicar of Limassol.
St. Paul’s Catholic Parish Paphos Pissouri Mass
Parish Priest Fr. Carlos Ferrero
This is held at the Columbia Resort Hotel every Sunday in The Adonis conference room (or the chapel if room not available), at 18.00 hrs. The English Mass lasts approximately 35 minutes and everyone is welcome.
The Hotel staff are always happy to point people in the right direction. Information from the Pissouri representative Rosita Marcoz on 25935685 Mob.99899337.
EASTER AND THE PISSOURI CHURCHES
Nationally, and in Pissouri, the two weeks of Easter celebration are the most important of the year for Cypriot members of the community, who see Easter much as the British see the Christmas season.
It is traditional for the faithful of Pissouri to go on a pilgrimage around some of the local churches over Easter. These are Profitis Elias, Panayia tis Akonopetra, Ayios Mavrikios and Ayios Georgios. But there is another included in these roaming Easter services – Panayia Zoodohos Pigi at Paramali. This is the small Church you can see off to your left as you go up the hill on the motorway on the other side of Paramali. The name translates as the Spring of Life, and there is a story about King Leon associated with this Church (see below). The story of Ayios Mavrikios is very different, a grim, bloody Roman story of martyrdom.
The story of Panayia Zoodohos Pigi church is remarkable. It is an ancient church, and it remained in use as a place of Orthodox worship for the surrounding villages during the Ottoman centuries when Paramali was a Turkish village. People travelled there in those days either on foot or by donkey. Then, in 1963, during the inter-communal troubles, Paramali became a no-go area for Greek Cypriots. The Church became derelict and was used for farm animals.
In 1974 it was restored to the Orthodox Church, and Yiota Aristidou Fouta (from the Pissouri Square Tavern) says she had a dream about the church. She went there in 1976 with a poorly baby, who recovered, and she has since made it her life’s work to look after this little Church and to see to its renovation and improvement. She says other people have also benefited from the power of this Church and help her with this mission.
Mrs Foutas also has connections with Ayios Mavrikios, in the “Linidia” area (signposted off the beach road to the Limassol (near the packing station). He is known as the “beetles’ Doctor. This is the only church in Cyprus dedicated to Ayios Mavrikios, Healer of Warts. It is said that if you take scrapings from the stone at the site and make it into a paste it will heal warts. The Church is famous for these healing properties and people come from far and wide. A concrete road has been laid to make the site accessible throughout the year. Mrs Foutas’s father, Mr Kyriakos, restored this Church in 1937, and then it was rebuilt again by Mrs Foutas and Mr Perikles Stasi. There is a service there every Thursday.
There are several smaller churches dotted about the village. At the “Kamaroudi” area, 3 kilometers from the village on the Alektora road, you can visit the small church of Saint George (Ayios Georgios). At the Eastern side of At the western side of the community, at a small hill, is Saint Mary’s church, whilst at the edge of the village past the Olympus Palace restaurant you can find Saint Alexander’s church. Finally, amongst the pine trees on the escarpment above the old Paphos Road, is Prophet Elias church (Profitis Elias). You can visit the church and enjoy its wall paintings.
The Village Churches
(more pictures in Contact 19 Newsletter)
Agios Spiridonas, Ampelohori
Panayia tis Akonopetra, in the Village (thanks to Dave Eyre), 
and, from the other side.
Profitis Elias above the old Paphos Road
PROFITIS ELIAS
Ayio Alexandros on the way to the Cyta mast (Kolokotroni)
Agios Georghios on the Alektora Road
Panayia Zoodohos Pigi, Paramali
Mavrikios in the Beach Valley
PANAYIA ZOODOHOS PIGI – THE VIRGIN OF THE WELL OF LIFE
PANAYIA ZOODOHOS PIGI – THE VIRGIN OF THE WELL OF LIFE
About 450 AD a Byzantine soldier, Leondas, was walking in the forest when he came across a blind man who begged him for a little water to quench his thirst. Leondas went to find water and bring it to him but failed and returned to the blind man distraught. But then he heard a woman calling him: “You do not need to be sad, Leon, the water is near you.” Then again he heard the unknown voice promising him: “King Leon, take the water and give it to the blind man. Look at me with his eyes and you will understand who I am and what I have told you.”Leon did find the water nearby, and he took it to the blind man, who opened his eyes and could see. At that moment Leondas realised that the voice he had heard was the Virgin Mary and that this was a miracle. Leondas became the Byzantine Emperor in 486 AD. He built a temple to the Virgin dedicated to the Virgin of the Life Giving Source. Under the Turks the temple was later destroyed and the stones taken away to build a mosque, but the Christians rebuilt another church on the site.
For Christians the story reminds people that, beyond the legends and traditions, the Virgin Mother of Christ and of all Christians remains the Source of Life.
About 450 AD a Byzantine soldier, Leondas, was walking in the forest when he came across a blind man who begged him for a little water to quench his thirst. Leondas went to find water and bring it to him but failed and returned to the blind man distraught. But then he heard a woman calling him: “You do not need to be sad, Leon, the water is near you.” Then again he heard the unknown voice promising him: “King Leon, take the water and give it to the blind man. Look at me with his eyes and you will understand who I am and what I have told you.”Leon did find the water nearby, and he took it to the blind man, who opened his eyes and could see. At that moment Leondas realised that the voice he had heard was the Virgin Mary and that this was a miracle. Leondas became the Byzantine Emperor in 486 AD. He built a temple to the Virgin dedicated to the Virgin of the Life Giving Source. Under the Turks the temple was later destroyed and the stones taken away to build a mosque, but the Christians rebuilt another church on the site.
For Christians the story reminds people that, beyond the legends and traditions, the Virgin Mother of Christ and of all Christians remains the Source of Life.