8

«From the earliest times the Greek Church of Cyprus has enjoyed an especial degree of independence; in the reign of the Emperor Zeno, a.D. 473, exceptional privileges were conceded to the Archbishop of Cyprus, who, although he owns the supremacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople over the orthodox Greek Church, claims to be entirely independent of him as regards Church discipline ; he wears purple, carries a gold headed sceptre, has the title of Beatitude, signs in red as the Greek Emperors were wont to do, and uses a seal bearing a two-headed imperial eagle. It is said that these dignities were conferred in consequence of the fortunate discovery at Salamis of the body of St. Barnabas, with a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew which precious relic was sent to Constantinople, and in return the Emperor confirmed the Church of Cyprus in its absolute independence, and gave the archbishop the above privileges.»(1)
St. Paul and St. Barnabas visited the island a.D. 45, and the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul at Paphos, by their preaching, was the first seed of Christianity implanted in Cyprus at the period when the inhabitants were steeped in heathenism ; but some of the superstitions at present existing are hardly less degrading than pagan rites, and in the kissing of the Virgin's cave at Trooditissa for the purpose already described, we can trace an affinity with the ancient worship of Venus.

1 Savile's Cyprus, p. 142.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8