Ayios Mamas is celebrated on the 2nd September in Morphou, where my mother comes from, and in the village of Ayios Mamas in the Limassol district where my paternal grandfather grew up.
As Raymond Hiscock explains, in his book 'Open Letters from Cyprus,' St Mamas is to be seen at the monastery in Morphou. He is said to have arrived as a poor hermit saint, who refused to pay income tax to the Byzantine tax collector. The governor ordered him to be arrested and as he was being escorted to the palace, a lion, an animal unheard of in Cyprus, leapt from a thicket on to a nearby grazing lamb. St Mamas held up his hand, gathered up the lamb and jumped astride the astonished lion and rode him to the palace.
The governor was so impressed that he exempted the saint from tax for life. Ever since, St Mamas, as patron saint of tax evaders, has enjoyed fervent worship.
In the village of Palaichori, in the chapel Metamorfosis tou Sotiros which was built in the 16th century, you can see various frescoes. Lions are a predominant motif of some of the paintings and St Mamas is seen riding a particularly elongated predator.
Sources: Eyewitness Travel: Cyprus
No comments:
Post a Comment