Panagia Odigitria
To The Church
Anyway, that's enough of the scenery. Let's see what the church is like inside. This door is open.
A Hodegetria?
The church interior is fairly standard for Cyprus. However, there was a very faded icon in the centre of the room. When I took these pictures, I was unaware what a Hodegetria was. Otherwise I would have paid more attention to it.
Votive Candles
One thing I didn't notice was any wax effigies. Often these are left in Cypriot churches as votive offerings, to help with their prayers. For instance, a little wax baby would be used for a fertility prayer. That sort of thing. Nothing like that here though.
Another Icon
I think this icon depicts the Angel Gabriel giving the Virgin Mary the good news.
That was weird, typing that made me feel all Christmassy. In fact, there are only 209 days to go.
Baby Jesus
Ah, we can see the central icon again here. It does look like Baby Jesus on the right being held by Mary on the left. This is what an Hodegetria is, with Mary pointing to the baby Jesus, guiding us to him.
You can see how worn out the central part of the image is. This is because countless numbers of people over the years will have kissed this as part of their prayers.