Girolamo Dandini from Perugia was commissioned by the Pope in 1596 to visit the Maronites in Lebanon. On his way, he stopped in Cyprus where he visited Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia.
Nicosia was inhabited mainly by Ottomans and Dandini wrote that the Maronites had their own church. It was in such a dilapidated state that even the holy altar was missing pieces and there were no holy grail or vestments. He felt sorry for them. They lived scattered in 19 villages including Metochi, Fludi, Ayia Marina, Asomatos, Kambyli, Karpasia, Kormakitis, Trimithia, Kazafani, Vouno, Kipo, Geri near Kythrea, Chrysiida, Kefalovryso, Sooto, Attalou, Klepini, Piskopio and Gastria. They had at least one parish and one priest in each of these villages. In Metochi they had eight churches and he was told that they held services on holidays in the mountains and weekdays in the plain. Usually, they had a bishop residing in Cyprus.
Photograph donated by the photographer, Sten Boye Poulsen
© Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
The ‘Did You Know’ series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus) and the Active Citizens Fund.
