In 2018, the 17th of May, the feast day of Saint Athanasios of Chytri, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus established also the Synaxis of all the Holy Bishops of Kythrea to be honored together.
For the first Bishop of Chytri (modern Kythrea), Saint Pappos the Confessor, there is no information concerning his place of origin. He was ordained bishop in 309 A.D. He is characterized as a confessor, because he was persecuted and tortured during the persecutions, from which he survived. He enjoyed great respect among the other bishops and the flock, because of his life and his age. For this reason, in 367 A.D., after the repose of the Bishop of Salamis (Constantia), that is, the Archbishop of Cyprus, the Bishops of Cyprus ask Saint Pappos, being already a bishop for 58 years, to propose the new archbishop.
Saint Pappos withdraws, prays fervently, and a heavenly voice reveals to him what he must do. Thus, accompanied by three bishops and two deacons, he goes to the marketplace of Salamis, where he finds the monk Epiphanios buying grapes, accompanied by 2 other monks. Epiphanios was from Palestine, became a monk in Egypt, founded a Monastery in Palestine, and came to Cyprus, where he visited Saint Hilarion the Great, who was practicing asceticism near the village of Episkopi of Paphos. Epiphanios was preparing to depart from Cyprus.
Saint Pappos asked him to leave the grapes and led him to a church, where the ordination of Epiphanios as Bishop of Salamis took place. In protest by Saint Epiphanios concerning his ordination, Saint Pappos explained to him that his ordination was a divine command, which he had to obey. He reposed in deep old age.
Chapels of Saint Pappos existed in the area of the villages of Trypimeni and Agios Sergios of the district of Ammochostos, in which there is a place known as Ais Pappos. The many destructions suffered by the region of Kythrea did not permit the preservation of information concerning the existence of churches dedicated to him.
Saint Athanasios was a relative of Saint Pappos. There is no information about his place of origin or the time of his birth and repose. His pious parents took care of the Christian upbringing of their child. Saint Pappos, seeing the gifts of Athanasios, also took care of his spiritual formation and education and took him as his assistant. After the repose of Saint Pappos, he became Bishop of Chytri. He worked systematically against the heresies, healed the sick, and wrote the life of Saint John Chrysostom and other texts. He reposed in holiness. A chapel dedicated to him existed in the village of Trypimeni.
Saint Photinos was Bishop of Chytri in the 5th century A.D. There is no information about his place of origin, the time of his birth and repose, nor about the period of his episcopacy. He was one of the 650 Fathers of the Church who signed the acts of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod, which was convened on October 8, 451 A.D. in Chalcedon of Asia Minor (opposite Constantinople) by the imperial couple of the Byzantine Empire, the saints Marcian and his wife Augusta Pulcheria. The Synod condemned the heretical teaching of the presbyter Eutyches, who taught that Christ has only one nature, the divine, because the divine absorbed the human nature, and thus Christ was only seemingly a man. In the Greek text of the acts of the Synod the name of the Saint is mentioned, while in the Latin text of the acts it is stated that the deacon Dionysios signed them on his behalf. He reposed in holiness.
Saint Spyridon was Bishop of Chytri in the 8th century A.D. There is no information about his place of origin, the time of his birth and repose, nor about the period of his episcopacy. He participated as a member of the seven-member delegation of the Church of Cyprus in the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, which assembled in Nicaea of Bithynia from September 24 until October 13 of the year 787 A.D. The head of the Cypriot delegation was Archbishop Constantine. The Synod was convened by the Empress Irene the Athenian, widow of the iconoclast emperor Leo IV, who was regent for her underage son Constantine VI, under Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople (a Cypriot), in order to confront Iconoclasm, which from 726 A.D. had been afflicting the Church. Specifically, the presence of icons in the churches and their veneration had been forbidden, with the result that tension, revolt, persecutions, tortures, and martyrdoms of faithful Christians were caused, along with the destruction of icons and sacred treasures, and the division of the people into Iconoclasts and Iconophiles.
Two wise monks, Saint John of Damascus and Saint Theodore the Studite, formulated the correct Orthodox positions concerning the honor and veneration of the holy icons. Namely, that the icons must be preserved in the churches, that we should respect them and honor the persons whom they depict, while worship belongs only to God. These teachings were included by the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in its decisions, the acts of which were also signed by Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Chytri. He reposed in holiness.
Saint Demetrianos was born in the village of Syka in the region of Kythrea. Near the neighboring villages of Palaikythro and Voni of the Kythrea area there is the locality Syka. He was born during the reign of the emperor of the Byzantine Empire Theophilos (829–842 A.D.). His father was a priest. Thus Demetrianos was raised “in the instruction and admonition of the Lord.” He assisted his father in the church and learned letters. He married a virtuous maiden, but she reposed after three months. After this trial, the young Demetrianos decided to follow the monastic life. Near Kythrea, on the slope of Pentadaktylos, was the Monastery of Saint Anthony. In the environment of the monastery, the sixteen-year-old Demetrianos soon reached spiritual heights, without neglecting his obediences, among which were the care of the monastery’s apiary and the gathering of herbs. God gave him the gift of wonderworking, and for this reason many sick people resorted to the monastery for healing.
The Bishop of Chytri, Eustathios, seeing the spiritual progress of Demetrianos, called him to himself, ordained him priest, and appointed him steward of the bishopric. Later, Demetrianos returned to his monastery, where he became abbot. After the election of Eustathios as Archbishop of Cyprus, he decided that Demetrianos should succeed him in the bishopric of Chytri. In order to avoid his ordination, Demetrianos departed and hid in a cave, but the grace of God revealed where he was hiding to those who were searching for him.
Thus Demetrianos, now Bishop of Chytri, continued to care for his flock until deep old age. Then a great calamity befell Cyprus. Between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs it had been agreed that Cyprus would remain neutral and would not be used by either side for military purposes. The admiral of the Arabs, the apostate Damiana (Damianos), taking as a pretext that the admiral Himerios of the Byzantine Empire had anchored in Cyprus for resupply — something for which the Cypriots were not at fault — attacked Cyprus, plundered, destroyed, and took thousands captive, among whom were many members of the flock of the bishopric of Chytri (Kythrea). Demetrianos, despite the fact that he was very elderly (78/79 years old), followed his flock to Baghdad, where through continual appeals to the caliph Al-Muqtadir he succeeded in securing the liberation of the captives, pointing out that the Cypriots were not to blame for the actions of Himerios and that Damiana had wrongly attacked Cyprus. At the same time as the actions of Saint Demetrianos, the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas I Mystikos, who was regent for the underage emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (913–959 A.D.), sent a letter to the caliph Al-Muqtadir for a peaceful settlement of the matter. The fact that neither the Byzantine Empire nor the Arabs wanted a new war between them contributed to the peaceful solution of the problem.
Thus those captives who survived returned to Cyprus together with the spoils that the Arabs had taken. Demetrianos advised the inhabitants of Chytri to change the location of their city and to settle along the course of Kefalovryso, so that the new settlement would not be easily visible to raiders arriving at the coasts of Cyprus.
A short time after his return, full of days, Demetrianos reposed and was buried in his beloved city, where a church was built in his name, as also in other parts of Cyprus, such as Palaikythro, Omorphita, Agios Demetrianos in the district of Paphos, Larnaka of Lapithos, Flasou, Kourion, Saint Ambrosios of Kyrenia, and Lakatamia. In Kythrea and its wider region there are various traditions concerning their beloved bishop.
More information on this subject can be found by interested readers in the book of Stylianos G. Petasis, Life of Five Holy Bishops of the Bishopric of Chytri–Kythrea (Βίος πέντε ἁγίων ἐπισκόπων Ἐπισκοπῆς Χύτρων–Κυθρέας), Nicosia, 2018.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
For the first Bishop of Chytri (modern Kythrea), Saint Pappos the Confessor, there is no information concerning his place of origin. He was ordained bishop in 309 A.D. He is characterized as a confessor, because he was persecuted and tortured during the persecutions, from which he survived. He enjoyed great respect among the other bishops and the flock, because of his life and his age. For this reason, in 367 A.D., after the repose of the Bishop of Salamis (Constantia), that is, the Archbishop of Cyprus, the Bishops of Cyprus ask Saint Pappos, being already a bishop for 58 years, to propose the new archbishop.
Saint Pappos withdraws, prays fervently, and a heavenly voice reveals to him what he must do. Thus, accompanied by three bishops and two deacons, he goes to the marketplace of Salamis, where he finds the monk Epiphanios buying grapes, accompanied by 2 other monks. Epiphanios was from Palestine, became a monk in Egypt, founded a Monastery in Palestine, and came to Cyprus, where he visited Saint Hilarion the Great, who was practicing asceticism near the village of Episkopi of Paphos. Epiphanios was preparing to depart from Cyprus.
Saint Pappos asked him to leave the grapes and led him to a church, where the ordination of Epiphanios as Bishop of Salamis took place. In protest by Saint Epiphanios concerning his ordination, Saint Pappos explained to him that his ordination was a divine command, which he had to obey. He reposed in deep old age.
Chapels of Saint Pappos existed in the area of the villages of Trypimeni and Agios Sergios of the district of Ammochostos, in which there is a place known as Ais Pappos. The many destructions suffered by the region of Kythrea did not permit the preservation of information concerning the existence of churches dedicated to him.
Saint Athanasios was a relative of Saint Pappos. There is no information about his place of origin or the time of his birth and repose. His pious parents took care of the Christian upbringing of their child. Saint Pappos, seeing the gifts of Athanasios, also took care of his spiritual formation and education and took him as his assistant. After the repose of Saint Pappos, he became Bishop of Chytri. He worked systematically against the heresies, healed the sick, and wrote the life of Saint John Chrysostom and other texts. He reposed in holiness. A chapel dedicated to him existed in the village of Trypimeni.
Saint Photinos was Bishop of Chytri in the 5th century A.D. There is no information about his place of origin, the time of his birth and repose, nor about the period of his episcopacy. He was one of the 650 Fathers of the Church who signed the acts of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod, which was convened on October 8, 451 A.D. in Chalcedon of Asia Minor (opposite Constantinople) by the imperial couple of the Byzantine Empire, the saints Marcian and his wife Augusta Pulcheria. The Synod condemned the heretical teaching of the presbyter Eutyches, who taught that Christ has only one nature, the divine, because the divine absorbed the human nature, and thus Christ was only seemingly a man. In the Greek text of the acts of the Synod the name of the Saint is mentioned, while in the Latin text of the acts it is stated that the deacon Dionysios signed them on his behalf. He reposed in holiness.
Saint Spyridon was Bishop of Chytri in the 8th century A.D. There is no information about his place of origin, the time of his birth and repose, nor about the period of his episcopacy. He participated as a member of the seven-member delegation of the Church of Cyprus in the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, which assembled in Nicaea of Bithynia from September 24 until October 13 of the year 787 A.D. The head of the Cypriot delegation was Archbishop Constantine. The Synod was convened by the Empress Irene the Athenian, widow of the iconoclast emperor Leo IV, who was regent for her underage son Constantine VI, under Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople (a Cypriot), in order to confront Iconoclasm, which from 726 A.D. had been afflicting the Church. Specifically, the presence of icons in the churches and their veneration had been forbidden, with the result that tension, revolt, persecutions, tortures, and martyrdoms of faithful Christians were caused, along with the destruction of icons and sacred treasures, and the division of the people into Iconoclasts and Iconophiles.
Two wise monks, Saint John of Damascus and Saint Theodore the Studite, formulated the correct Orthodox positions concerning the honor and veneration of the holy icons. Namely, that the icons must be preserved in the churches, that we should respect them and honor the persons whom they depict, while worship belongs only to God. These teachings were included by the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in its decisions, the acts of which were also signed by Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Chytri. He reposed in holiness.
Saint Demetrianos was born in the village of Syka in the region of Kythrea. Near the neighboring villages of Palaikythro and Voni of the Kythrea area there is the locality Syka. He was born during the reign of the emperor of the Byzantine Empire Theophilos (829–842 A.D.). His father was a priest. Thus Demetrianos was raised “in the instruction and admonition of the Lord.” He assisted his father in the church and learned letters. He married a virtuous maiden, but she reposed after three months. After this trial, the young Demetrianos decided to follow the monastic life. Near Kythrea, on the slope of Pentadaktylos, was the Monastery of Saint Anthony. In the environment of the monastery, the sixteen-year-old Demetrianos soon reached spiritual heights, without neglecting his obediences, among which were the care of the monastery’s apiary and the gathering of herbs. God gave him the gift of wonderworking, and for this reason many sick people resorted to the monastery for healing.
The Bishop of Chytri, Eustathios, seeing the spiritual progress of Demetrianos, called him to himself, ordained him priest, and appointed him steward of the bishopric. Later, Demetrianos returned to his monastery, where he became abbot. After the election of Eustathios as Archbishop of Cyprus, he decided that Demetrianos should succeed him in the bishopric of Chytri. In order to avoid his ordination, Demetrianos departed and hid in a cave, but the grace of God revealed where he was hiding to those who were searching for him.
Thus Demetrianos, now Bishop of Chytri, continued to care for his flock until deep old age. Then a great calamity befell Cyprus. Between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs it had been agreed that Cyprus would remain neutral and would not be used by either side for military purposes. The admiral of the Arabs, the apostate Damiana (Damianos), taking as a pretext that the admiral Himerios of the Byzantine Empire had anchored in Cyprus for resupply — something for which the Cypriots were not at fault — attacked Cyprus, plundered, destroyed, and took thousands captive, among whom were many members of the flock of the bishopric of Chytri (Kythrea). Demetrianos, despite the fact that he was very elderly (78/79 years old), followed his flock to Baghdad, where through continual appeals to the caliph Al-Muqtadir he succeeded in securing the liberation of the captives, pointing out that the Cypriots were not to blame for the actions of Himerios and that Damiana had wrongly attacked Cyprus. At the same time as the actions of Saint Demetrianos, the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas I Mystikos, who was regent for the underage emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (913–959 A.D.), sent a letter to the caliph Al-Muqtadir for a peaceful settlement of the matter. The fact that neither the Byzantine Empire nor the Arabs wanted a new war between them contributed to the peaceful solution of the problem.
Thus those captives who survived returned to Cyprus together with the spoils that the Arabs had taken. Demetrianos advised the inhabitants of Chytri to change the location of their city and to settle along the course of Kefalovryso, so that the new settlement would not be easily visible to raiders arriving at the coasts of Cyprus.
A short time after his return, full of days, Demetrianos reposed and was buried in his beloved city, where a church was built in his name, as also in other parts of Cyprus, such as Palaikythro, Omorphita, Agios Demetrianos in the district of Paphos, Larnaka of Lapithos, Flasou, Kourion, Saint Ambrosios of Kyrenia, and Lakatamia. In Kythrea and its wider region there are various traditions concerning their beloved bishop.
More information on this subject can be found by interested readers in the book of Stylianos G. Petasis, Life of Five Holy Bishops of the Bishopric of Chytri–Kythrea (Βίος πέντε ἁγίων ἐπισκόπων Ἐπισκοπῆς Χύτρων–Κυθρέας), Nicosia, 2018.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
