Visiting the Byzantine Museum in Geroskipou, Cyprus
Visiting the Byzantine Museum in Geroskipou, Cyprus
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Hey Epic Human,
It has been a ridiculously long time since I’ve posted. Let’s blame it on technical problems for wont of a better excuse. But I'm going to jump right back in as though I've never been silent.
I'm planning to catch up on my sightseeing in Cyprus with a vengeance. I made a good start on it today by visiting the Byzantine Museum located in Geroskipou (also known as the Ecclesiastical Museum).
It was a big bummer that they did not allow photography inside!
Luckily they show a few select images on their website, so I’ll borrow a few of those.
As you can see by the wooden cases, they feature ecclesiastical metallic objects from the 6th century, such as censers, lamps, candlesticks, mitres, chalices, and similar religious items.
A collection of manuscripts and old books is also on display, among them Gospels from 1462 and 1604, a Hymnologium of the 15th century, Firmany of 1853, music books, codexes of laws (all in Greek and mostly unreadable to our eyes).
In the museum we admired a rich collection of wood carvings, iconostase, sanctuary doors, crucifixions, and lypitera from the 14th century, alongside crosses for benediction and sanctification—much of these carved, gilded, or somehow ornate.
A few ancient frescoes in the museum that were removed from ruined churches are dated from the 11th and 12th century. (They were an echo of the enormous collection of frescoes that nearly overwhelmed me in the Barcelona museum.)
It was the icons that really drew us in, however. Their collection of icons dates from the 12th to the 19th century, with some as far back as the 8th and 9th century.
The museum’s most valuable possession is the icon of the Virgin Eleousa, claimed to be the oldest icon in Cyprus. The painting is even darker than the dark version below, and quite hard to make out. It is dated to the 7th or 8th century.
This next icon really grabs my fancy: it’s supposed to represent The Transfiguration, but I took it to represent the four functions of typology.
The superior and inferior functions seem particularly clear, and even the challenges of the auxiliary and tertiary functions are evocative and vivid.
Robin and I both became enamored of a saint we didn’t know much about: Saint Mammas. The story goes that he was born in prison to parents who had been jailed for being Christians. Mammas became an orphan when his parents were executed. After their deaths, Mammas was raised by a rich widow who died when he was 15 years old.
According to legend, Mammas was tortured for his faith by the governor of Caesarea and was then sent before the Roman Emperor Aurelian, who tortured him again. The legend states that an angel then liberated him and ordered him to hide on a mountain near Caesarea.
Mammas was later thrown to the lions, but he managed to make the beasts docile by preaching to them. Afterwards, a lion remained with him as a companion. Accompanied by the lion, he visited Duke Alexander, who sentenced him to death.
He was struck in the stomach with a trident and his soul was carried into heaven by angels.
He is said to have been born around the year 259 and died around 275. His feast day is September 2 in the Eastern Orthodox calendar (tomorrow!). We will have to figure out some way of acknowledging him. (Maybe we’ll draw goofy lion faces!)
After enjoying the museum, we went out wandering in the area and tripped over Aphrodite Delights, a legendary sweet shop. After sampling both the lavender and pistachio Cypriot taffy (don’t call it Turkish Delight on this side of the island!), Robin had to buy a few boxes to take home with us.
We went home shortly afterwards and we’re now catching up on things.
Our latest issue of Psychological Perspectives was recently released! Yayyy!
This volume revolves around Jung’s story of the Rainmaker of Kiauchow, and I learned a great deal from working on this collection of articles. The Rainmaker story is about setting one’s inner self to rights, which in turn sets one’s outer world to rights as a mirroring. It’s that old alchemical formula:
“As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul.”
—Hermes Trismegistus, “The Emerald Tablet”
It’s a marvelous philosophy that appeals greatly to Jungians (especially the introverted ones).
When we arrived back at the house, I found a dandelion growing up through a crack in the street.
I always love this kind of sight: a little guy beating the odds and managing to flourish despite all odds in impossible circumstances. It’s a true hero’s journey.
Here’s to flourishing!
-Dr. Vicky Jo
PS: I’m getting the hang of Substack and hope to be posting more often going forward. Yaayyy!