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At a distance of about
one thousand meters from the community of
Tala lies the monastery of Agios Neofytos.
The founder of the monastery,
St. Neofytos, was born in Lefkara in 1134
from a poor and large family. At the age
of 18 his parents got him engaged in spite
of his wishes (in those days the marriage
affairs were handled by the parents without
asking the opinion of those that were about
to be married).
So St. neophytes abandoned the village and
secretly went to the monastery of St. John
“the Chrysostom” of Koutsoventis to become
a monk. Because the saint was illiterate,
the Prior of the monastery assigned to him
the cultivation of the monastery’s vines.
There he first learns reading and writing
and becomes an excellent vine-grower. At
that time he asked the Prior to let him
become a hermit but the Prior declined because
of his young age.  Then
St. Neofytos went to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land, hoping to find some old
hermit who would guide him in an ascetic
life. He returns to the monastery without
achieving his purpose. He tries again to
convince the Prior to allow him to live
as a hermit but without any result.
At that time he decides to abandon the monastery
and go to the mountain "Latros' of
Asia Minor. He goes to Pafos aiming to find
a ship so as to leave. There, however, he
gets arrested as a fugitive and is imprisoned.
The guards steal the money that he had.
With the help of pious people, he is released
from prison and -without any money -he is
forced to seek for a hermitage in the island's
inland.
 So, he arrived to the cliff and the small
natural cave where today his "Eglistra"
(retreat) stands.
He began to carve out the small cave, removing
the rocks, and by enlarging the cave he
created the temple of the Retreat and a
cell, in which he dug his grave.
In 1770 the Saint he receives his ordination
as a priest and assumes a disciple. Ever
since then the Retreat begins to grow in
size and be beautified. Cells were carved
across the entire length of the cliff.
The fame of the Saint
began to spread everywhere and soon the
number of visitors increased significantly.
In 1197, in order to avoid the nuisance
of the visitors, the Saint was forced to
dig high up over the Retreat another cell,
the New Zion as he called it, so as to avoid
that nuisance. In order to be able to observe
the Services and participate in the Eucharist,
he dug a small cell over the temple of the
Retreat, the Stoup, and connected it to
the temple through a rectangular hole.
It
is not known when Saint Neofytos died. He
must have died after 1214, having first
his nephew Isaiah appointed as his successor.
It is generally accepted that the Saint
was buried, according to his instructions,
in the grave he had prepared himself, inside
a wooden coffin made out of pine, cedar,
and cypress wood that he himself constructed.
His successor, Isaiah, following the instructions
of the Saint, closed with a wall the opening
that was created so that the coffin could
be place in the grave and decorated the
wall with frescos, making it indistinguishable.
As a result, the exact burial place of the
Saint was forgotten with the passage of
the centuries.
St. Neofytos was voluminous.
Despite the fact that he learned to read
& write after his 18th year of age,
he probably is the most voluminous middle-Byzantine
writer. Apart from Sermons he also wrote
Hermeneutics upon the Holy Bible and more,
in which valuable information about Hagiology
(on Saints) and the history of Cyprus. These
writings of the Saint began being published
by his Holy Monastery. Three multi-paged
volumes have already been published.
It is considered as a fact that Isaiah,
whom Saint Neofytos himself had appointed
as his successor, succeeded him as a Prior
of the Retreat. Nothing is known about Isaiah. Non
of the Priors of the Monastery from the
13th, 14th, and 15th centuries is known.
In any case, the Monastery continues to
exist and flourish.
In 1570, the Turks that conquered Cyprus
systematically pillaged it. In 1585, after
an order by the Sultan, the monasteries
were sold, the Monastery of Saint Neofytos
included, and the monks were forced to scatter.
The rebirth of the Monastery was achieved
by the priest-mink Leontios who gathered
monks and ordained himself as a Prior. In
1611 he asked Archbishop Christoforos to
declare the Monastery as autocephalous (independent),
something that the Archbishop did, having
the consent of the then Metropolitan Bishop
of Pafos, Leontios. In 1631 the Patriarch
of Constantinople Cyrillus confirmed the
independency of the Monastery.
The grave and the remains of St. Neofytos
were found -most probably -in 1756. The
remains were transferred to the Shrine of
the Monastery.
THE MUSEUM OF THE MONASTERY
In order to preserve its
treasures and also to make them accessible
to the visitors, the Monastery has created
a Museum, under its east wing, in which
significant treasures are on display. The
Museum is consisted of two departments.
The purely ecclesiastical in which icons,
holy items, manuscripts, and old documents
and vestments are on display, sating back
from the end of the 12th to the 19th century,
and the non-ecclesiastical in which mainly
pots of the Geometric and Archaic (900 -
600 BC) period of Cyprus.
The
visitor descends to the Museum via a ladder
built at the north end of the eastern wing.
Here, icons of small proportions, mainly
of the 19th century, are on display. Only
one icon, one of the Enthroned Virgin Mary
holding Christ upon her laps, is of large
proportions. This icon dates back to 1884.
The lobby is separated
from the 1st chamber by a large showcase,
in which a wooden altar of 1864, Holy Chalices
and Holy Trays of the 19th century, woodcut
crosses and various other Holy items of
the 18th and 19th century are on display.
In the 1st chamber some
very important icons, dating back to 1183,
are on display. There are icons of the 16th
century.
In the 2nd chamber, two
pairs of Bema Doors that date back to the
end of the 18th century are displayed. There
are also several icons of the 16th, 17th,
18th, and 19th century. In this chamber
six censers, the oldest dating back to 1691
and the earliest to the 20th century, are
exhibited. In the same chamber there are
various Gospels with vermeil covers, manuscripts
and old documents. The oldest document includes
speeches of Saint Neofytos and dates back
to the end of the 12th century. There is
also a manuscript that dates back to the
16th century.
In
the 3rd chamber there are icons, miniatures
and a stole. Quite important is the "Panagia
I Eglistriani" (Madonna of the Retreat)
that dates back to the beginning of the
16th century.
In the 4th chamber
there are icons of Saint Neofytos and the
Great icon of the Assumption, as well as
Priors' staffs of the 18th and 18th century.
When exiting the chamber, the visitor enters
the great hall in the west where the pots
of the geometric and Archaic Period are
exhibited and then exits through the built
ladder at the north end of the Museum. |
