The church and monastery of Saint Barnabas are situated at the western edge of the Salamis necropolis. Information about the personality and work of Saint Barnabas comes from historical sources. Born in Salamis, Saint Barnabas was the son of a Jewish family. He began work with Saint Paul to spread Christianity. As a result of these activities, fellow Jews killed him and his body was
hidden in a marshland, later to be dumped into the sea bu night. A number of Barnabas followers who witnessed the incident secretly took the body away and buried it together with the St. Mathews Bible which Barnabas used to carry in a cave under a carob tree to the west of Salamis. After a lapse of 432 years the burial site was revealed to bishop Anthemios in a dream. The Saint Mathews Bible found in the grave was proof that the remains were that of St. Barnabas. The bishop took the remains to Istanbul and presented to the emperor Zeno. Upon this, the emperor declared the autonomy of the Island's Church and donated money for the building of a Monastery at the burial site.
The monastery was built in 477 A.D. The building got its present structure in 1756 during Ottoman rule. The place was preserved and protected in its original form and opened to visit. Various icons, wall paintings and other items were displayed in the Church within the Monastery precincts. |
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