Hermitage of St. Neophytos
Type:
Hermitages,
Wall paintings
Date:
Second half of the twelfth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Cyprus
Description:
The hermitage of a monk named Neophytos is cut into the face of a steep cliff north of Paphos (Cyprus). It includes a chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross and Neophytos's private cell (with storage niches, a bed shelf, and his own tomb), as well as the refectory and rock-cut cells that had to be added once the community around the holy hermit began to grow. Neophytos's typikon for this monastic community decrees that the there should be no more than eighteen monks at the Enkleistra (Enclosure). The typikon also mentions that paintings were added in Neophytos's twenty-fourth year there, which would have been 1183. More paintings were added around 1197, including most of the Passion cycle in the naos. The decorative program from the hermit's lifetime is largely intact (he died after 1214).
In the naos, Neophytos displayed a cross relic he had acquired, hollowing out an east-facing niche to hold a gilded wooden cross with a relic cavity at its center. Above the cross, appropriately, is a fresco of the Crucifixion.
Relevant Primary Sources
In the naos, Neophytos displayed a cross relic he had acquired, hollowing out an east-facing niche to hold a gilded wooden cross with a relic cavity at its center. Above the cross, appropriately, is a fresco of the Crucifixion.
Relevant Primary Sources
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
8
Repository and Online Resources:
• The typikon of St. Neophytos is digitized on the University of Edinburgh Library website (MS 224).
Image Credits:
Linda Safran, Navid Jamali
