Kato Paphos Part 6 - Agia Kyriaki

Published 29th of November, 2021

View From The Rear

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Obviously in 2019 it was earlier in the year, as those trees are a lot greener. Anyway, lets examine the church interior more closely.

Left Pulpit

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The left pulpit is quite high. It looks ornate but not compared to the one in the church in Pachyammos. That one is something else.

Another View

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From this angle the statue of a bird is more visible. I wonder who the Holy Men are in the pictures?

Right Pulpit

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I think this is another pulpit on the right hand side. I could be wrong though. If not, it is an awfully grand seat.


UPDATE!

A member of our Paphos Chat Facebook Group has added the following useful information, for which we are very grateful.

Regarding the church of Agia Kyriaki itself, perhaps I could add a couple of notes? The second 'pulpit' you actually better identified as an ornate chair. This is where the Bishop would sit when he is present, so not actually a pulpit at all. On the real pulpit, this is usually where the Gospel would be read in the Greek Orthodox Church, so the figures painted on the side are likely to be the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. The church is actually a Greek Orthodox Church, or is at least owned by them. It is leased to the Roman Catholic Church however, and regular RC services are held there. The Roman Catholics in turn sub-let to the Anglican Church who hold a regular service every Sunday morning in English, for any readers who are interested. The fabric of the Orthodox Church remains of course - hence the iconostasis, or icon screen. The hand of the Virgin is likely to have received endless kisses of veneration over the years, and being painted, it is likely to have worn away over time. The metal covering is going to be to either protect the painted hand, or to cover up where it has actually gone already. Each of the icons on the screen in Orthodox use would have an oil lamp hanging in front of it. Those are suspended by ropes or chains from those eagles you see on top. Notice that there is a hole below each of the perches where the rope passes through. The ropes go through to the back where the priest would lower the lamps down for the oil to be refilled and for lighting them.

The modern altar in front of the screen is a Roman/Anglican addition as the central door of the icon screen (behind which will be the altar 'proper') is blocked off so it cannot be used by the non-Orthodox liturgically.

The Main Altar

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Here we can see the main altar. It is not too dissimilar to a lot of the Orthodox Churches we have seen on our travels. It especially reminded me of the altar at Sinti Monastery. I want to take a closer look at a couple of things. By closer look I mean zoom in with the camera. I don't walk on altars when I visit churches, of any denomination. I have too much respect for them, and for what they mean to their congregation.

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