Cyprus The Island Of Saints

Cyprus, because of its connection with many saintly men in ancient history is some times referred to as the “The Island of Saints”. The beautiful island of Cyprus was chosen to be the first place to receive the new message of faith with the advent of Christianity. Every year Cyprus effortlessly attracts holiday makers that come in search of the fantastic Mediterranean climate, stunning scenery, the ancient history, the friendly and welcoming people and the relaxed Cypriot lifestyle.

Cyprus in antiquity was known as the island of Aphrodite, by virtue of the myth of her birth on the western coast and also the geographical and natural beauty of the island. However, following the arrival of Christianity and its flourishing it became known as the island of the saints. This is due to the countless number of saints the island continually produces even in the modern world. In this study, I will be exploring the tradition of the so-called Alamanoi, a group of 300 saints, who arrived on Cyprus from the east. Who are these saints and what exactly is their origin? Where were they active and venerated? What are the sources which testify about them and how reliable are these? When, how and why the legend of the Alamanoi saints was created? What does this legend reveal about medieval Cypriot identity? These are some questions we attempt to answer.MEDIEVAL HISTORY, HAGIOGRAPHY, HISTORY OF CYPRUS, BYZANTINE HAGIOGRAPHY, BYZANTINE AND MEDIEVAL CYPRUS (HISTORY AND ART), HAGIOGRAPHY OF THE LATE BYZANTINE PERIOD (1204-1453)., CYPRUS HAGIOGRAPHY

In this collection, an eminent authority on the history of political thought and on the intellectual history of modern Hellenism employs his twin academic specializations in political science and in intellectual history to understand the intricacies of the historical experience of his native island. Writing in a perspective inspired by the work of Fernand Braudel, he attempts in a series of studies in cultural and social history to recover lost and overlooked aspects of the collective destinies of Cyprus and the Cypriot diaspora in the centuries of Ottoman rule, a period of critical significance for the survival of the people of the island. He then turns to a penetrating analysis of the politics of the Cyprus Question. The pertinent studies collected in this volume bear the imprint of the deep soul-searching by the younger generation of Cypriot scholars at the time of the tragedy of 1974 over what went so wrong that their country was exposed to foreign invasion, occupation and division. The hints at answers to these questions offered by the author’s interdisciplinary and critical treatment of the subject make this work an indispensable aid to anyone wishing to grasp the deeper antinomies and dilemmas immanent in the Cyprus Question.

Discusses the lives of Christian saints, and includes Saint Agatha, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, Saint Luppus, Peter the Hermit, Saint Vitus, and many others.

This is the first full-length study of Jerome’s saints’ Lives. It analyses the way he combines classical, Christian and Jewish literary sources with his actual experience of the geography of late antique Palestine to re-write the biblical Holy Land as a new and Christian world.

True stories and legends about the saints.