Ayios Ioannis Lambadistis

The monastery of Ayios Ioannis Lambadistis stands opposite the village of Kalopanayiotis in the Marathasa valley, up in the Troodos. In 1985 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List alongside nine other painted Byzantine churches of the range. It is a complex of three churches — Ioannis Lambadistis, Agios Irakleidios and a Latin chapel — gathered under a single timber roof. It functioned as a monastery until the 19th century and has operated as a church since.

How it came to be one building

The chapel of Agios Ioannis Lambadistis collapsed, for reasons unknown, and was rebuilt in the 17th or 18th century under Ottoman rule. According to the Department of Antiquities, that is probably when the common roof was put over the two older churches.

The saint

Saint Ioannis lived in the 10th century and came from a small village near Galata; he is celebrated on 4 October. His tomb lies under the narrow north-eastern arch, and his skull is preserved in a silver-plated reliquary set into a niche. He fulfilled his purpose very young — he was 22 — and his grave became famous after a pilgrim who visited it was said to have been cured, which drew pilgrims in numbers thereafter.

The other two churches

The central church is dedicated to Saint Heracleidius and dates to the 11th century. Its painted decoration was lost in the 12th century, and a large part of the church is thought to have been repainted at the beginning of the 15th. Towards the end of that century the “Latin” chapel was built on the north side of Agios Ioannis; the paintings inside it show the influence of the Italian Renaissance.