Churches
Church of Agios Georgios
This is the main church of the village dedicated to Saint Georgiou and to which the villagers go every Sunday and in every celebration. It is built near the square of the village.
It was built by charities and donations of the community of Mazotos in 1963. It is at the place of the older temple which was demolished so the new one could be built. There is the information that at this place, before the previous temple, there was another one ancient and small which was then demolished for the same purpose.
This system unfortunately was too harmful and destructive because the repeated demolitions of the temples, on the one, and on the other the great eagerness of the residents and the then church committees for constant renovations, were the cause for valuable icons and woodcraft to be lost.
More specifically at the first demolition a big Cross of excellent art was lost and at the second the old temple of the church with the excuse that it was a bit small so it was replaced with a new one.
As the residents say, the old iconostasis was incomparable superior because the grapes the birds the leaves and all the woodcraft pictures in general were so successful that you thought they were real.
In the sanctuary of the church there is the icon of Saint Georgiou of the year 1777 that shows the Saint holding a sword instead of a pikestaff.
According to information, in the old times there were two monasteries in the area which were built by Georgian monks who lived in them. The one of the two monasteries was dedicated to Saint Georgiou.
He is celebrated on the 23rd of April with a litany of the icon of Saint Georgio.
Chapel of Agios Xenorhon (Xorinos)
In a distance of half a kilometer, in the north east of the village there is the chapel of Saint Xenophonta the Xorinou .The icon of the saint is dated and was drawn since 1821, according to an epigraph that the icon has .It was brought to the village by Hadjidemetros, a camel man from Voukolida of Karpasia, who came and was married at Mazotos.
It was a summer night, in the middle of the century before last, when Saint Xenophontas appeared to him and said:
-«Wake up; to go and get me to Mazotos and the village will have good things from me. ».
In the morning Hadjidemetros borrowed the mule of his neighbor and set up for Voukolida, who knew where the icon was .He stayed for a week, but he came back empty-handed, because the priest of the village from whom he asked the icon refused that he had this Saint in the church.
The following year, the Saint appeared to him again and asked him to bring his icon at Mazotos.He borrowed the same animal to do God’s wish. During the trip ,that kept few hours this time, his soul was full of feelings such as awe ,deep faith and ecstasy so he reached the priest’s house as hypnotized.He asked for the icon once more but the priest refused again.Hadjidimitros was determined to run Saint’s Xenophontas errand this time and insisted on going to the church and find it.
«Let’s go he told him and it is on the right side of the icons next to the icon stand».
The priest then, on his effort to keep the Saint in the church, he ordered to lift the icon from its place and hide it under the ground, in the church yard. When this was done then the priest, the vestrymen and many villagers took Hadjidimitro to the church so he could see with his own eyes that the icon he mentioned was not there.
When they arrived at the yard of the church Saint Xenophontas did his miracle and all the attendees were surprised in front of the sight they faced .In the middle of the yard there was a great fire and all the surroundings looked mysterious .Hadjidimitros in ecstasy went and dug the ground in that spot, and in a clear sheet, that was not destroyed from the fire, there was the icon. After this no one dared to stand against this devout sender of the Saint so Hadjidimitros took the icon and brought it to Mazotos in one night only. The mules that brought him back as soon as they reached the yard, sweat and tired, leaned and died.
The whole village gathered at Hadjidimitro’s house and after they made triumph pomp, chanting and honoring God, they carried the icon to the old chapel that was in the same place of the new one and officiated.
From the next day the miracles of the Saint began.
He exiled all the infidels from the village .They did not catch up their deads and funerals. In just a few times they abandoned the village and the population remains purely Greek.
Therefore He is the Saint who exiles evil and sickness that’s why he took the name Xorinos.The villagers know a lot of illnesses which he cured.
Every year on the 26th January, the Saint Xorinou festival, there is a big celebration and a lot of people all over Cyprus go. After the festival the people of the village are gathered to eat together to take their guests in friends and strangers and they celebrate for many hours.
Recently though, during the decade of 1990,near the chapel a new big church was built with expenses of the villagers and the emigrants of Mazotos and the other people ,dedicated to Saint Xenophonta too which officiates every first Sunday of the month.
Chapel of Panagia Petounta
One and a half kilometres on the south of Mazotos, near the sea there is the old chapel of Virgin Mary of Petountas.This chapel is built on ruins of a city of the Roman era. The walls of the city and the remainders of old tomb are visible. It is well preserved now but not forgotten.
It is a small, humble and plain chapel, built with stone. It does not have the luxury to host a lot of religious people. A little further though from this chapel, fifty meters of distance, on a hill, it has been recently built (5-6 years ago) a new chapel, dedicated to Virgin Mary of Petountas too. It is tiled with stone and has been built with expenses and contributions of Georgiou and Elisabeth Ropa.When the chapel celebrates all the religious people with devoutness and decency hug the chapel to enjoy the Holy Service and the Virgin’s Festival, by bringing their offerings .It operates 5-6 times a year when the Virgin Mary celebrates, except on the Lady Day, that is celebrated in the main church of the village Saint George.
According to tradition, the chapel took the name Petounta because Virgin Mary flew and sat there .It is therefore the Mary of fertility and umber.
At this area there was one found an urn in a violin shape. It is said that this urn is at the museum of Berlin now.
Near the chapel there is the source of Virgin Mary. This fount source was opened by Virgin Mary at the moment she stepped her foot there. From this fountain the residents took water and built the chapel .until today this fount springs and is called ‘kannouri’because the water spouts.
The picture of Virgin Mary was found by our fellow villager Mr. Mina.Vigin Mary appeared in his sleep one night. She told him where to look and dig in order to find her icon. On the next day the man set up to find the icon. He went, dug and found the icon. At that spot the villagers decided to build a chapel which they dedicated it to Virgin Mary. They started to build the church but they ran out of money at some point, and they did not have the power to continue the works for the completion of the church. Then, Virgin Mary appeared at Mr.Mina’s sleep again and showed him where her money was, for the completion of the church works.
-«you will see many strange things », she told him, « but do not get scared ».
The next night the man ran to go and find the money there where Virgin Mary showed him. When he reached the place that Virgin Mary showed him he saw camels, donkeys and such more, he got scared and left. On the next day he mentioned it to his fellow villagers .Some of them went there and dug but instead of money they only found a container full of coals.
They did not find the money because as it seems Virgin Mary’s wish was for Mr. Mina to find them whom she made envisioned.
A tradition mentions that on the small hill near the chapel there was the temple of the goddess Aphrodite and under the ruins of the temple a beautiful statue of the goddess of beauty.
Our Priests
Presented below are the names of the priests who served in Mazotos as these are cited in Costas Papageorgiou’s book *, Mazotos, A Village with Beauty and History:
| Father Michael Vasileiou | 1860?-1880? |
| Father Panagis Savva | 1870?-1890? |
| Father Antonis Antoniades | 1921-1922 |
| Father Antonis Michael | 1928-1929 |
| Father Stylianos Philippou | 1926-? |
| Father Kyriakos Michael | |
| Father Michael Panteli | 1928-1939 |
| Father Averkios | |
| Father Georgios Papantoniou | |
| Father Christoforos Tryfonos | 1945-1973 |
| Father Theodoulos Papadopoulos | 1973-2002 |
| Father Anastasis Fragkiskou | 2002-2008 |
| Father Spyridon Georgiou | From March 9th 2008 |
Source:
*Costas Papageorgiou, Mazotos, A Village with Beauty and History, Cyprus 2009
