Neophytos of Cyprus, Saint Neophytos, Neophytos the Recluse (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Άγιος Νεόφυτος ο Έγκλειστος; 1134–1214) was a Cypriot Orthodox

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, and sometime

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

, whose writings preserved a history of the early crusades. "He is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the Church of Cyprus"

Life

Neophytos was born in the mountain village of Kato Drys near

Pano Lefkara Pano Lefkara () is a village on the island of Cyprus famous for its lace, known as lefkaritika in (Greek: λευκαρίτικα) and silver handicrafts. The village takes its name from the white of its silica and limestone: Lefkara is derived fro ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, to farming parents Athanasios and Eudoxia, one of eight children. His religious interests came to the fore when the arranged marriage planned by his parents ended with his fleeing to the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostomos in Koutsovendis.Galatariotou, Catia (2002) ''The Making of a Saint: The Life, Times and Sanctification of Neophytos the Recluse'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
page 13
After much ado, the marriage contracts were broken and Neophytos went back to the monastery as a novice, becoming a tonsured monk in 1152.Galatariotou (2002) page 14 During this time he learned to read and write and was eventually appointed as assistant

sacristan A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretal ...

.Kakoulli, Ioanna and Fischer, Christian (2009
"An innovative noninvasive and nondestructive multidisciplinary approach for the technical study of the Byzantine wall paintings in the Enkleistra of St. Neophytos in Paphos, Cyprus"
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC; archive

by

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

on 24 November 2010 Although Neophytos felt called to be a hermit, his

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

declined to let him go, citing his youth. In 1158, however, Neophytos was allowed to make a pilgrimage to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. While he was there he sought out hermits who might sponsor him, but to no avail. He returned to Cyprus, but still wanted to pursue the hermitic life. He tried to escape to Mt. Latmos in Asia Minor, but was arrested at

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

upon his attempted embarkation. He was shortly released from prison, but the guards had stolen his travel funds, so, in June 1159, he went to the hilly area above

, where he found a cave that had been used by a previous hermit. He enlarged the space, eventually creating three caves known today as the Cell, the Bema and the Naos. Neophytos's life as a hermit attracted the religious in the area who brought him food and gifts. His air of sanctity brought many to visit him, and in 1170 Vasilios (Basil) Kinnamos, the Bishop of Paphos, ordained him as a priest and required him to take a disciple, which started the monastery which now bears his name. Neophytos wrote a chronicle titled Περὶ τῶν κατὰ χώραν Κύπρον σκαιῶν (On the calamities against the country of Cyprus) dated to 1196, which is one of the few Greek primary sources that record the events of the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

in Cyprus and the pursuit of the Byzantine ruler of Cyprus, Isaakios Komninos by the English king

Richard the Lionheart Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

. Neophytos takes a judgmental stance against the crusaders and his chronicle is anti-Latin.

Legacy

Saint Neophytos Monastery was named in his honor.

Publication history

* Σάθας, K
Νεόφυτου πρότερον μοναχού και Εγκλείστου, περί των κατά την χώραν Κύπρον σκαιών
''Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη Τόμος Β΄. Χρονογράφοι Βασιλείου Κύρπου''. Εν Βενετία: Τύποις του Χρόνου (1873).

Life

Legacy

Publication history

See also

Notes

Further reading