Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive

by Franz von Löher

The legend of the saint is as follows: St. George, who was born in Cappadocia, went with his mother to Palestine, of which country she was a native, and where she had considerable estates. These fell to her son, who was a soldier, and became a tribune, and was further promoted by the Emperor Diocletian, to whom, however, he resigned his commission when that emperor made war against the Christian religion. He was thrown into prison for remonstrating against bloody edicts, and was afterwards beheaded at Nicomedia. St. George became the patron of the soldiers who fought for the faith, and his apparition is said to have encouraged the Christian army in the Holy War, before the battle of Antioch, which proved fortunate under Godfrey of Bouillon, and he is also said to have appeared and inspirited Richard Cœur de Lion, in his expedition against the Saracens. St. George is usually represented in pictures as on horseback, slaying a dragon; but this is no more than an emblematical figure, purporting that by his faith and Christian fortitude, he had overcome the devil.

The great majority of the population of Larnaka, as of the rest of the island, are members of the Greek Church.

The chief points of difference between the Greek Church and that of Rome, are the following:

The Greek Church does not admit: First. The supremacy of Rome.

Secondly. The Filioque clause in the creed.

Thirdly. The enforced celibacy of the parochial clergy (the reason of this being that although the monastic system had begun before the schism, the celibacy of the regular clergy had not been enforced till a later period, and this was adopted by the Greek Church).

Fourthly. The doctrine of transubstantiation, in the Papal sense of that term, is not held by the Greek Church; (Rome itself did not adopt this strange tenet till the Council of Lateran in 1215).

Fifthly. The dogmas of purgatory and penance, as taught by Rome, are not held by the Greek Church, yet some of their views bear a close resemblance to the papal theories on these points.

Sixthly. The Greek Church disagrees with that of Rome about the use of leaven in the Eucharist. In almost all other respects there is little difference between the churches. The Greek Church is thoroughly hierarchical, holds the monastic system, worships pictures (although it rejects the worship of images), and gives to the Virgin Mary as high a degree of worship as even Rome can do; its theory of the Panagia being scarcely distinguishable from that of the Immaculate Conception.

The officiating clergy of the Greek Church are the patriarch, archbishops, and bishops; subordinate to these are the papades or parish priests. All the dignitaries are taken from among the caloyers or monastic orders, and are not allowed to marry, but the papades may be married, with these special limitations: That they are married previous to their consecration, and may not marry a second time, should they become widowers. Hence they are commonly married before taking orders, and invariably select young and healthy women for their wives. The revenues of the dignitaries are raised by a tax imposed on each family, while the parish priests are supported, chiefly by means of what they can obtain from the superstitions of the people, and perquisites of office, such as money paid for absolutions, benedictions, exorcism, ceremonial sanctifying of water, sprinklings of streets and tombs, granting divorces, and innumerable ritualistic observances. They are almost universally a base and degraded class, themselves extremely ignorant, and they keep the people in equal degradation and ignorance, partly because such is their own state, and partly that they may secure their own influence. Their places of worship are built generally in form of a cross. The choir is always placed towards the east, and the people turn their faces in that direction when they pray. Their public religious service is liturgical, and exceedingly protracted. They have four liturgies, and the service consists chiefly of prayers, hymns, recitations, chants, and frequent crossings, with such numerous repetitions that it often occupies five or six hours, without any sermon.