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Thursday 9 May 2013

Saint Constantine Church, Souskiou village, Pafos

Church of Saint Constantine 

Going from Kouklia village to Archimandrita in Pafos is a route we have followed many times.

Just before we reached the windmills at the peak of the mountain, we saw a small sign on our left indicating the road to the Church of Saint Constantine.

We followed the road down the valley to reach this very small and very old Church. Once we went inside we were surprised to see a lot of wall paintings of Saints in a very bad condition.

It seems that at some point a lot of them were removed and what is more, the few that still remain in place, have the faces of the Saints destroyed! We felt very sad as this Church seemed more like abandoned with no attempt of restoration.

We later found out that it belongs in the boundaries of Souskiou village (used to be a Turkish village) which is also abandoned. This explains the fact that the wall paintings were removed and that the faces of the Saints are missing. It was a habit of non Christians to do such things during the time the island was occupied by Ottomans (1571-1878).

We hope that in the near future an attempt to restore what is left of this old Church is taken (we have already contacted the Holy Bishopric of Pafos) , as it is a part of our culture and history.


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