Ayios Epiphanios Orineis

Agios Epifanios is a village of the Nicosia district, only 500 metres off the main road running from Nicosia to Palaichori.

The epidemic

According to Papamichael Toumazou, an epidemic struck the village in the 18th century. One family survived — a father, a mother and three daughters — and they abandoned the village. Years later they returned, married men from the surrounding villages, and made their living from livestock.

The village today has around 500 residents and suits anyone who wants time in the open air among the pines and the green. What stood out on our visit was how spotless it is, and that every house has its own garden, covered top to bottom in flowers.

At the centre of the village stands the church of Agios Epifanios, which dominates it — a single-room church under a sloping tiled roof.

The monument

Also in the centre is the Missing Persons’ and Fallen’s Monument, stone-built and raised in 2002. It is dedicated to Costas Mishiaoulis, killed on 17 July 1974; Costas Chr. Katalanos, still missing; and Georgios Xenofontos Poyiatzis, whose remains were found in a group tomb at Kdonara and identified by DNA — his bones were buried in the community cemetery at Agios Epifanios on 2 September 2007, with full honours and in the presence of state and church representatives.

Sources: the Community Council, and Papamichael Toumazou Papamichael, ‘Agios Epifanios’, Nicosia 2003.