Church of Sts. Cyprian and Justina | Menoiko Nicosia, Cyprus

The church dedicated to Agios Kyprianos and Agia Ioustini is found in the village of the Nicosia district, Menoiko and is a very important pilgrimage for thousands of believers, not only Cypriots but also believers from other countries. Hundreds of pilgrims arrive each day to the church’s yard. The lifestory of Agios Kyprianos, acts as a pole of attraction for Christians, when he was a layman as well as when he became a clergyman. But what life was this?

He was born 211 years after the birth of Christ in Antioch, in Syria, coming from a wealthy family. He dealt a lot with magical art and as a wizard he was visited by a lot of people for him to solve their problems. One day, he was visited by a very wealthy man and he asked him to cast a spell on a girl so that she would fall in love with him. This girl was Ioustini and she was nurtured with Christian morals. No matter what the wizard did, Ioustini managed to avoid falling under his spells. Time passed by and Kyprianos realised that Ioustini’s deep faith in Jesus, helped her.

The magician, being desperate, appealed to his big lord, the devil, and asked him to help him. The devil then transformed himself to a woman, to be able to easily approach Ioustini and he tried to trick her. Ioustini, preceded to prayers to Jesus to confront the devil’s slander. The devil, having failed in changing Ioustini’s faith, abandoned Kyprianos and left the girl alone. Then the magician understood that faith in Jesus is stronger than him and the devil and after he threw all his books with the spells away, he converted into a Christian. His devotion to Christ was so great that in a very short time he became a bishop, at the age of 37.

He kept Ioustini by his side and he name her an abbess. Later on, the emperor of that period, tried many times and with harsh means to dissuade the bishop Kyprianos and the abbess Ioustini and to drive them to idolatry. They had developed a greater action to their Christian task, something that made the emperor demand their beheadal. This happened on the 14th of September in 268 A.C. The Christian of that period, after being able to retain the remains of the martyrs, they transferred them to Rome. Later, a part of them were transferred back to Syria and a lot later they were transferred to Cyprus, in a small church in Menoiko.

On the chapel’s premises, water was streaming out that smelled good. Today, in the same place, there is a tap with Holy water. The story of these two Saints, impels thousands of Christians to visit their church. Whoever you ask in the village, will tell you the same thing. “Agios Kyprianos is Miraculous”.