Agios Neophytos Monastery

The monastery of Agios Neophytos stands about 9km north of Paphos in the community of Tala. It is among the best known on the island and dates back to 1170 AD. The monk Neophytos founded it — it began as somewhere to flee to, after he was jailed for pursuing a life of devotion.

The Enkleistra

What is now a monastery was then a cave. Neophytos excavated parts of it into a small chapel, a tomb and a hermitage cell for himself. The cave is known as the Enkleistra — the word means enclosed, in the sense of a person withdrawn from the world — and it sits on a steep slope about 150 metres from the monastery buildings.

Frescoes of remarkable quality survive inside the Enkleistra, and the grave of Saint Neophytos is here. Legend has it that the grave adjusts its size to fit whoever lies in it.

Neophytos

He was born in 1134 in the village of Lefkara. As a young man he left his parents’ house to dedicate himself to God, going to the monastery of Saint Chrysostom, where he studied and became an assistant sacristan. He then travelled to Jerusalem in search of a mentor; that did not work out, and he returned to Cyprus. He began alone in the cave, but soon gathered a following of others like him, and in 1170 the Bishop of Paphos persuaded him to take on a pupil.

The museum, and practicalities

There is a museum at the monastery with a small entrance fee of around €2; opening times differ between winter and summer, and it closes on major holidays. It holds two collections — pottery from 900 BC to 600 BC, and relics and ecclesiastical art from the 12th to the 19th century.

A small shop at the entrance sells icons and religious items, and there are more shops in the car park selling Cypriot products made with carob and grape juice — soutzoukos, carob syrup, carob sweets, olive oil. You can get a coffee and sit outside in the quiet.