Restoration work has begun on the roof of the Apostolos Varnavas church in the Famagusta district village of Engomi, technical committee on cultural heritage co-chairman Sotos Ktoris said on Friday.
He added that he hopes that work to restore the church’s iconostasis, a tiered screen towards the front of the church which is decorated with icons of important figures to Christianity, as well as frescoes on its walls, will begin in the near future.
Work on the church’s roof is being funded by the European Union and implemented under the technical supervision of the United Nations development programme.
The Apostolos Varnavas church was built at the end of the fifth century by the then archbishop Anthemius of Cyprus, under the sponsorship of Emperor Zeno of the Eastern Roman Empire, who had proclaimed the autonomy of the Church of Cyprus in 488.
Local Christian tradition states that Saint Barnabas appeared three times in Anthemius’ sleep, and that he chose for this reason to dedicate a church to the saint, who lived and died in Salamis four centuries prior.
According to Church tradition, Barnabas became a Christian martyr when he was stoned to death by Jewish people, though the Acts of Barnabus, a text apparently compiled by his companion John Mark, write that he was bound with a rope by the neck, and dragged to the site where he was burned to death.
The church was most recently renovated in the 18th century and was the site of pilgrimage until 1974.
Engomi had been a predominantly Greek Cypriot village up to that point, with its Greek Cypriot population being displaced thereafter.
The village is now inhabited by Turkish Cypriots who were displaced from Larnaca, as well as Turkish nationals originating from the Adana and Trabzon provinces.
Click here to change your cookie preferences