Machairas Monastery

Machairas goes back to 1145, when two hermits found an icon of the Virgin in a cave they had to cut their way into with a knife, the machairi that gives the place its name. The monastery stands at around nine hundred metres in pine forest on the northern edge of the Troodos system, and the buildings are largely a rebuilding after a fire in 1892, arranged around a courtyard with galleries. It remains an active male monastery with a strict visiting regime.

History

Legend says an unknown hermit secretly brought from Asia Minor one of the 70 icons said to have been painted by Saint Luke, and that it lay hidden in a cave until 1145, when two hermits from Palestine, Neophytos and Ignatios, found it; they had to cut their way into the cave with a knife, machairi in Greek, and the icon, the Machairotissa, gave the monastery its name. After Neophytos died, Ignatios and another hermit, Prokopios, went to Constantinople in 1172 and won the support of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who granted the whole mountain and made the house independent of the local bishop. The monk Neilos enlarged it early in the 13th century and became its first abbot, later bishop of Tamassos; Isaac II Angelos gave money and land in Nicosia and Alexios III Angelos 24 serfs. A fire in 1892 did great damage, and Archimandrite Chariton travelled to Russia to raise money for the rebuilding, collecting 6,483 roubles (Wikipedia, Machairas Monastery).

Highlights

• The courtyard - galleried ranges rebuilt after the 1892 fire.
• The icon - the Virgin of Machairas, the monastery's founding relic.
• The forest setting - dense pine on the mountainside around the walls.
• The view - the Mesaoria plain visible north from the approach road.

When to go

April to November is the comfortable season. The monastery closes for a long midday break and admits visitors only at set hours. Winter can bring snow to the access road.

What to expect

Opening hours are restrictive and enforced; arriving outside them means the gate stays shut. Women must cover legs and shoulders and wraps are not always provided. Photography inside is not permitted.

Nearby

Fikardou is north, and Nicosia is northeast.

Key facts