Mary of Iberia, Moscow, Stavrovouni Monastery, St. Nicholas, Stavrovouni Monastery, The Gate of Resurrection, Moscow, Cyprus and Russia Joint Issue for Christian Orthodox Religion, Republic of Cyprus

Mary of Iberia, Moscow, Stavrovouni Monastery, St. Nicholas, Stavrovouni Monastery, The Gate of Resurrection, Moscow, Cyprus and Russia Joint Issue for Christian Orthodox Religion, Republic of Cyprus

Postage stamps--Cyprus--History

Γραμματόσημα--Κύπρος--Ιστορία

The top right hand stamp in this se-tenant block of four depicts an imposing view of Stavrovouni Monastery. The name Stavrovouni derives from the Greek words "Stavros-cross, and Vouno-mountain". A religious center since the 4th century A.D. Stavrovouni is the earliest documented monastery on the island. Many centuries ago travelers referred to it as the convent of the Holy Cross and one can read about it in the memoirs of the Russian Abbot Daniel who stayed on the island in 1106. He recorded that the Holy Cross was located on Mount Olympus for the purpose of warding off all evil spirits and curing illnesses.(Many travelers at the time mistakenly thought that the mountain was the highest in Cyprus.) Wilbrandi de Oldenborg visited the monastery in 1211 A.D. and wrote that the life of the inmates was very unlike that of monks. In the 4th century the monastery was inhabited by Orthodox monks who lived according to the code of Saint Basil, but in 1305, Ludolf von Suchen, a priest from Westphalia noted that the monks belonged to the Order of Saint Benedict. In 1888 the Church, the iconostasis and the monks’ cells were completely destroyed. The only relic, which has been preserved to-date, is a silver cross in which a minute piece of the Holy Cross is inserted. It is the only reliquary still kept at the monastery. Recently the monastery underwent a complete renovation and the small church restored with frescoes and icons by the well-known painter Father Kallinikos. The legend of the foundation is recorded in these painting. Nowadays the monks live a very strict form of monastic life similar to that of the monks on Mount Athos, unlike as in other monasteries and churches in Cyprus, women even today are forbidden to enter the monastery.
(See also the 3 mils stamp of the 1966 definitive set for the story of the Holy Cross.)

Cyprus Post, Republic of Cyprus

Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία

Cyprus Post, Republic of Cyprus

Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία

Library of Cyprus University of Technology

Digital Heritage Research Lab of Cyprus University of Technology

13th November 1996

Designer: G. Simonis

Απαγορεύεται η δημοσίευση ή αναπαραγωγή, ηλεκτρονική ή άλλη χωρίς τη γραπτή συγκατάθεση του δημιουργού.

www.cypruspost.gov.cy

TIFF

EL, EN

Image

1996-CY+RUSS-30

35.160417, 33.346556

Oriental Press, Bahrain