Chapel of the Saints Mavra and Timotheos | Koilani Limassol, Cyprus

The official Church Tradition states that Saint Timothy and Saint Mavra (Mavra or Mavri means Black in Greek) came from Egypt. They were both children of virtuous families. With fierce words, Timothy fought daily against idolatry. In virtue of this action, he was arrested as a Christian, just 20 days after his marriage to Mavra. They both refused to succumb to the horrific torture that they had to endure from Arianos, the ruler of Thebaid, and they finally died through the suffering of crucifixion which lasted for 9 days.

It is not known how the worship of the two Saints arrived to Cyprus. Of-course during early Christian times there was a great movement by Christian communities due to persecutions and both Egypt and Cyprus were under Roman rule and thus had close relations. In the village of Koilani in the district of Limassol, there is already reference to Mavra from the Medieval Period and it seems that it is since then that her memory is co- celebrated along with her husband Timothy on the 3rd of May.Different legends want Saint Mavra to come from the village of Pera Pedi or from the village of Koilani, and that her parents wanted to marry her off but she refused. On the eve of her marriage she went to clean the outdoor oven where they burned wood for food, and in doing so her face was blackened. With this excuse, her name Mavri (Black) is justified. However, she did not burn from the wood, which is interpreted as a miracle and secretly fled to the nearby mountains to avoid the marriage. 

Being chased after, she reached a cave at the place where today her church is found. This is where she was found by the villagers who chased her. Once she saw them, she began to beat her hands with despair on the rock. Then a miracle happened. The rock opened up and the girl went in and was lost in it. They then ran to catch her, but a very fast running water spring started flowing from the rock. This is the water spring whose crystal water passes under the foundation of the church. The above legend is associated with another that says that after the miracle of the opening of the rock, the Saint herself made a hole in the mountain and by passing through it, she arrived somewhere between the villages of Mandria (Limassol) and Pera Pedi, followed by her fiancé.

There is also the opposite scenario which states that the opening of the mountain in Mandria is the starting point of the tunnel and that the Saint came out of the mountain hole which is above the church, where she was ascended to Heaven along with Timothy. This scenario is coupled with the only written evidence, that of Stephen Lusignan, who writes that Mavra was born in the village of Pera Pedi and that she, along with her husband, became Martyrs at the town of Koilani, and continues on by writing that a water spring started running at the place where their martyrdom took place. According to tradition, at the place of their martyrdom, a church was built after the locals saw strange phenomena occurring at the top of the mountain.

The Monastery of Saint Mavra functioned on the site where now the church of Saint Mavra in Koilani village is to be found. Archimandrite Kyprianos, who came from Koilani, left an extraordinary and poetic description about the location of the Monastery (1778). 

From Archimandrite Kyprianos we learn that Saint Mavra continued to function as a monastery until his time. He knows that the Saints Timothy and Mavra are not Cypriots, but he combines facts and legend in such a way as to have them originating from Egypt, but martyred in Cyprus. Before him, the Russian monk Basil Barsky visited Koilani in 1734, and after that, he came down to visit the Monastery of Saint Mavra also. From monk Barsky we derive the information that the small church belonged to a small monastery. 

The construction of the single aisled, with a blind dome and a second wooden roof church, can be assigned to the 12th century. The surviving parts of the older painted decoration date to the 12th century. However, the biggest part of the wall paintings can be dated to the early 16th century. Of particular interest is the depiction of Saint Augustine in the Sanctuary of the church, because this Saint belongs to the Western Church and is rarely depicted in Orthodox churches. Around the 1950's fanatical Turkish Muslims of the region erased the eyes of the saints painted on the murals. The damage is incalculable and irreversible. 

The surviving icon of the Saints Timothy and Mavra date to the early 13th century and is miraculous in the treatment of colds. At the floor of the church there is a square hole where gurgling water runs, the Holy Water of Saint Mavra, which leads out to the East, on the road, beneath the southern courtyard of the church, to a marble fountain. Beside the church, there is a perennial plane tree with a 35 m trunk and is approximately 8 meters in hight.


The Monastery celebrates on May 3.