Orthodoxy in Cyprus

I have fond memories of my (so far) only trip to Cyprus in October of 1993, and would dearly love to go back some day. I thought of that trip in seeing that next week will give us a paperback edition of a book published a few years ago: Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571: Society, Spirituality, and Identities by Chrysovalantis Kyriacou (Lexington Books, 15 April 2021), 354pp.

About this book the publisher tells us this: 

Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming (until 1571) the most important stronghold of Latin Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean—first under the Frankish dynasty of the Lusignans, and later under the Venetians. Modern historiographical readings of Cypriot identity in medieval and early modern times have been colored by British colonialism, Greek nationalism, and Cyprocentric revisionism. Although these perspectives have offered valuable insights into the historical experience of Latin-ruled Cypriots, they have partially failed to capture the dynamics of noncoercive resistance to domination, and of identity preservation and adaptation. Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571 readdresses the question of Cypriot identity by focusing on the Greek Cypriots, the island’s largest community during the medieval and early modern period. By bringing together theories from the fields of psychology, social anthropology, and sociology, this study explores continuities and discontinuities in the Byzantine culture and religious tradition of Cyprus, proposing a new methodological framework for a more comprehensive understanding of Cypriot Orthodoxy under Crusader and Venetian rule. A discussion of fresh evidence from hitherto unpublished primary sources enriches this examination, stressing the role of medieval and Renaissance Cyprus as cultural and religious province of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine Orthodox world.

Human Rights in Global Orthodoxy

As detailed in reviews, interviews, and notes on here over the past five years especially, discussions of human rights are front and centre in much of Orthodoxy today. A book set for November release continues and advances that discussion: Giuseppe Giordan and Siniša Zrinščak, eds., Global Eastern Orthodoxy: Politics, Religion, and Human Rights (Springer, 2019), 276pp.

About this book the publisher tells us this:

This volume highlights three intertwined aspects of the global context of Orthodox Christianity: religion, politics, and human rights. The chapters in Part I address the challenges of modern human rights discourse to Orthodox Christianity and examine conditions for active presence of Orthodox churches in the public sphere of plural societies. It suggests theoretical and empirical considerations about the relationship between politics and Orthodoxy by exploring topics such as globalization, participatory democracy, and the linkage of religious and political discourses in Russia, Greece, Belarus, Romania, and Cyprus. Part II looks at the issues of diaspora and identity in global Orthodoxy, presenting cases from Switzerland, America, Italy, and Germany. In doing so, the book ties in with the growing interest resulting from the novelty of socio-political, economic, and cultural changes which have forced religious groups and organizations to revise and redesign their own institutional structures, practices, and agendas.

Cyprus Under the British

Cyprus seems to be coming in for some recent scrutiny, as a recent book, noted only last month, bears on parts of its history. Now another new book treats its more recent history: Christos Ioannides, Cyprus under British Colonial Rule: Culture, Politics, and the Movement toward Union with Greece, 1878–1954 (Lexington Books, 2019), 340pp.

About this book the publisher tells us this:

This is a unique book that combines a political narrative with poetry to examine the role of culture and the fusion of religion and politics during the struggle against colonialism. The context is Britain’s geopolitical interests in the Middle East. The author utilizes a vital cultural source echoing the authentic voice of the people, Cypriot folk poems, which has remained virtually unknown to the English reader until now. Translated into English, they are interwoven into the book’s narrative to reflect the yearning for social justice and the political sentiments of the vast majority of the population, the peasants, in a rural society. Lawrence Durrell’s literary masterpiece, Bitter Lemons, his politico-cultural chronicle on British-ruled Cyprus, is also discussed critically.

The Greek Orthodox Church led the anti-colonial movement revolving around union with Greece. Through his intimate knowledge of Greek Orthodox practices, the author elucidates how religious customs and rituals were intertwined with the nationalist ideology to lead to political mobilization. In the process, culture, with its religious underpinnings, shaped politics. This dynamic has been the case from the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa, to Eurasia and South East Asia. Prime examples are the Iranian revolution and the more recent Arab Spring, both of which caught the West by surprise. In Cyprus, the British, with their sense of superiority, remained alien to the local culture and discounted popular sentiment. The two rebellions that ensued caught Britain totally by surprise. This is a valuable case study on the convergence of religion and politics. Academics, students and non-specialists will find a captivating narrative on Britain’s colonial encounter in an idyllic but strategic island in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Orthodox Cyprus Under the Latins

Well do I recall, in October 1993, being jolted out of my ignorance and naivete as a young Canadian unaccustomed to the scars of political violence when I visited Nicosia on Cyprus and saw the militarized border between Cypriot and Turkish claims to the island. I was there for a World Council of Churches conference of which I remember little now except for how hot it was relative to Ottawa, and how I almost didn't make it by developing acute appendicitis six days before I was supposed to leave. Oh, and the food. The food, of course, was wonderful. 

But back to matters at hand: a new book looking at the pivotal role Cyprus plays in the Mediterranean, not least with Crusaders coming from Western Europe to the Middle East and stopping off in various places, and sometimes never leaving, as happened in Cyprus, newly examined by Chrysovalantis Kyriacou, Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571: Society, Spirituality, and Identities (Lexington Books, 2018), 354pp.
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About this book the publisher tells us this:

Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming (until 1571) the most important stronghold of Latin Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean—first under the Frankish dynasty of the Lusignans, and later under the Venetians. Modern historiographical readings of Cypriot identity in medieval and early modern times have been colored by British colonialism, Greek nationalism, and Cyprocentric revisionism. Although these perspectives have offered valuable insights into the historical experience of Latin-ruled Cypriots, they have partially failed to capture the dynamics of noncoercive resistance to domination, and of identity preservation and adaptation. Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571 readdresses the question of Cypriot identity by focusing on the Greek Cypriots, the island’s largest community during the medieval and early modern period. By bringing together theories from the fields of psychology, social anthropology, and sociology, this study explores continuities and discontinuities in the Byzantine culture and religious tradition of Cyprus, proposing a new methodological framework for a more comprehensive understanding of Cypriot Orthodoxy under Crusader and Venetian rule. A discussion of fresh evidence from hitherto unpublished primary sources enriches this examination, stressing the role of medieval and Renaissance Cyprus as cultural and religious province of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine Orthodox world.

The Icon Hunter

I watched the movie Monuments Men some time back, and thoughts of it came to mind in hearing of this new book by the Tasoula Hadjitofi, The Icon Hunter: A Refugee's Quest to Reclaim Her Nation's Stolen Heritage by Tasoula Georgiou Hadjitofi (Pegasus Books, 2017), 400pp. The author is a Cypriot, and I have fond memories of visiting Cyprus in the fall of 1993 to see some of its monasteries.

About this book the publisher tells us:

In this powerful memoir, Tasoula Hadjitofi reveals her perilous journey orchestrating “The Munich Case”―one of the largest European art trafficking stings since WWII. With the Bavarian police in place, the Cypriots on their way, seventy under-cover agents bust into the Munich apartment of a notorious Turkish smuggler suspected of holding looted antiquities. Tasoula places everything on the line to repatriate her country’s sacred treasures, unaware that treachery lies in the shadow of her success.

The Icon Hunter is a story torn from the pages of Tasoula's life as she and her Greek Cypriot family lose everything during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Hundreds of ancient Cypriot churches are destroyed, their contents looted and all signs of her Greek Cypriot culture erased as if it never existed. As a refugee, she wants justice. And then fate intervenes in the form of an archbishop and a dubious art dealer in search of redemption.

Even as unspeakable personal tragedy strikes, she never gives up her search knowing the special place these antiquities hold in the hearts of Orthodox Christians. These icons are not just masterpieces―they are artistic manifestations of faith and a gate-way to the divine.

Using family and faith as her touchstones, Tasoula takes on these “merchants of God” as she navigates the underworld of art trafficking. Tasoula believes this to be her calling, and the Archbishop of Cyprus entrusts her―an ordinary woman, wife, and mother―with the mission. In order to succeed, however, she must place her trust in an art dealer known for his double-dealing.

Inspiring and empowering, The Icon Hunter is a gripping story by a remarkable woman that will captivate readers long after the final page.

A Greek and a Turk Walk into a Bar...

Discussions of the First World War have, as I've noted before, focused on Christian suffering, especially in Armenia in 1915. Far less attention has been paid to the slaughter, at that same time, of Assyrian Christians and Pontic Greeks. Still less attention is given to the postwar massacres of Greek Christians in the forced exchanges of population after the war, events which came with the razing of Smyrna, inter alia, and the expulsion of Greeks from Anatolia. But the more we learn of Christian-Muslim relations in the antebellum period, the more we realize that it was not all bloodshed and violence. A new book continues to help us see the messiness of history in this period and place: Vally Lytra, ed., When Greeks and Turks Meet: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Relationship Since 1923 (Ashgate, 2014), 319pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

The relationship between the history, culture and peoples of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus is often reduced to an equation which defines one side in opposition to the other. The reality is much more complex and while there have been and remain significant divisions there are many, and arguably more, areas of overlap, commonality and common interest. This book addresses a gap in the scholarly literature by bringing together specialists from different disciplinary traditions - history, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, literature, ethnomusicology and international relations, so as to examine the relationship between Greeks and Turks, as well as between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. When Greeks and Turks Meet aims to contribute to current critical and comparative approaches to the study of this complex relationship in order to question essentialist representations, stereotypes and dominant myths and understand the context and ideology of events, processes and experience. Starting from this interdisciplinary perspective and taking both diachronic and synchronic approaches, the book offers a fresh coverage of key themes including memory, history and loss; the politics of identity, language and culture; discourses of inclusion and exclusion. Contributors focus on the geographical areas of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus and on the modern historical period (since 1923) up to the present day, offering in some cases an informed perspective that looks towards the future. When Greeks and Turks Meet will be essential reading for students and researchers working on the cross-roads of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, on South-East Europe and the Middle East more generally. It will also be a valuable resource for students and researchers in inter-cultural communication, cultural and media studies, language and education, international relations and politics, refugee and migration studies, conflict and post-conflict studies.

Cyprus: Crossroads of East and West

Well do I remember traveling to Cyprus for a week in the fall of 1993. Ottawa was just beginning to get very cool that autumn, but Cyprus was bracingly warm. I remember the trip largely because I had an emergency appendectomy six days before leaving, and feared my trip would be in jeopardy. But the surgery was swift and the recovery equally so and soon I was on my way from Montreal to London to Nicosia, where, inter alia, I toured the no man's land separating Cypriots and Turks, which was made all the more jarring and indeed absurd because it was surrounded by high-end boutiques in a rather rarefied shopping district.

A recent book treats Cyprus as a place of encounter between Eastern and Western Christians: Benjamin Arbel et al., eds., Cyprus and the Renaissance (1450-1650) (Brepols, 2013),420pp.

About this book we are told:

The present collection is the first of its kind centered on intellectual exchanges during the Renaissance period, deepening their source-based documentary study, as well as our knowledge of the island’s culture and heritage in relation to political, scholarly and religious life in Western countries.

These twelve essays by leading scholars in the field are products of an international research project on early modern Cyprus and its relation to cultural developments in the West, started in November 2009. Cyprus, an independent ‘Frankish’ kingdom from 1191 to 1473, became a Venetian protectorate, then, in 1489, a　Venetian colony until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1570. Its population was diverse and rich in religious experience　–　preponderantly followers of the Greek rite, but also Latins, Eastern Christians and Jews. Its heritage from Antiquity, as well as from the Byzantine and Frankish periods, its monasteries (which received, reproduced and produced manuscripts) and its geopolitically pivotal site on East-West trade routes attracted numerous Westerners. The cultural magnet drew deeper interests than those of pilgrimage and tourism. The continuous to and fro of Europeans, many of them Venetian, the island’s importance to economic and military strategies, and the allure conferred by　a　mythological past stimulated and fostered　a　generous descriptive and allusive literature. The present collection is the first of its kind, centered on written culture and exchanges during the Renaissance period, deepening their source-based documentary study, as well as our knowledge of the island’s culture and heritage in relation to cultural developments in Western countries.

Essays by: Benjamin Arbel, Daniele Baglioni, Lorenzo Calvelli, Evelien Chayes, Paola Cosentino, Carlo Alberto Girotto, Gilles Grivaud, Angel Konnari-Nicolaou, Enrico Parlato, Paolo Procaccioli, Chris Schabel, Evangelia Skoufari. 

Proto-Byzantine Cypriot Reliquaries

I have fond memories of my trip to Cyprus in 1993 for a meeting of the World Council of Churches. A recent book helps us understand the depth of the island's Christian culture and history: M.C. Comte, Les reliquaires du Proche-Orient et de Chypre à la période protobyzantine (IVe-VIIIe siècles): Formes, emplacements, fonctions et cultes (Brepols, 512pp. + illustrations).  

The publisher gives us a bilingual overview of this book:

After the Peace of the Church, the cult of martyrs, which had previously been forbidden and observed only clandestinely in cemeteries, was officially recognised and practised in churches. The first reliquaries of Palestine and Syria became particularly abundant in the 5th and 6th centuries, both in these provinces and in the province of Arabia. Numerous discoveries during the last forty years have increased our knowledge of these liturgical objects, during a period in which the Christian cult was being established, and provide confirmation of well-known texts and literary sources. They shed new light on the purpose of reliquaries and on the different phases of development of the cult of martyrs in the patriarchates  of Jerusalem and Antioch.

The book is divided into two parts: an Overview (first part) and a Catalogue (second part). Drawing on examples from the catalogue, the author discusses the physical appearance of reliquaries and their location in the church, and the changes that are believed to have occurred in the veneration of saints. Notable differences exist between provinces and bishoprics. The location and installation of mobile reliquaries, which vary within the three provinces of Palestine, are often repeated with minor differences in the liturgical practices of the province of Arabia; there are similarities also in the form of the reliquaries and the method of veneration.

The mountains of northern Syria are a special case, because the reliquaries are large, many have been found in the same room, and they are never found in the apse, but always in a small room attached to the church (the martyrion). “Flowing Oil” is always a feature. Syrian influence can also be found in the neighbouring provinces of Euphratesia and Cyprus.
The Catalogue comprises examples of more than 250 reliquaries from the Near East and Cyprus. Where possible, entries are classified by Roman province, and include a description of the reliquary and details of its origin; some of these are still located in ancient Christian monuments. In addition, some examples which are now in museums are described, a few of them never having been classified, and not all of them having a known origin.

 C’est à partir de la Paix de l’Église que le culte des martyrs jusqu’alors interdit et caché, limité aux cimetières, s’est développé de façon officielle, prenant place dans les églises. Les premiers reliquaires apparus en Palestine et en Syrie connurent un grand essor aux V^e et VI^e siècles dans ces provinces ainsi qu’en Arabie. Les nombreuses découvertes effectuées au cours des quarante dernières années ont considérablement augmenté notre connaissance de ces objets liturgiques, pendant cette période de mise en place du culte chrétien, confirmant ainsi les textes, et sources littéraires connues et ajoutant des informations complémentaires, sur leur fonctionnement et sur les phases d’évolution du culte des martyrs dans les patriarcats de Jérusalem et d’Antioche.

L’ouvrage se compose de deux parties : un texte de synthèse (première partie) et un inventaire sous forme de catalogue (deuxième partie). Se fondant sur les exemples du catalogue, l’auteur a procédé à l’étude des reliquaires en fonction de leur forme, de leur emplacement dans l’église et des modifications supposées être intervenues dans le culte des saints. Selon les provinces et les évêchés de rattachement, des variations notables sont en effet décelables. La position variable des reliquaires mobiles dans les trois provinces de Palestine et les installations qui les accompagnent se retrouvent avec quelques différences dans certains des arrangements liturgiques de la province d’Arabie. Les formes adoptées et les modes de vénération sont proches également.

La région des jébels de Syrie du Nord constitue un monde à part, à la fois par la taille considérable des reliquaires et leur nombre important dans la même pièce, ainsi que le système de « circulation d’huile », unanimement adopté pour la vénération. L’influence de cette région est sensible dans les provinces voisines : Euphratésie, Phénicie II et à Chypre.

Le catalogue est constitué d’un corpus de plus de 250 reliquaires provenant du Proche-orient et de Chypre, classé par provinces romaines, donnant le détail des lieux de trouvaille et de la variété des objets parfois encore en place dans les monuments chrétiens. S’y ajoutent des exemples conservés dans les musées, certains inédits, dont la provenance est plus incertaine.

The Art and Architecture of Byzantine Cyprus

Forthcoming this fall from the press of the prestigious Byzantine research centre of Dumbarton Oaks is a new book about art and architecture in one of the most famous churches on the isle of Cyprus: Annemarie Weyl Carr and Andréas Nicolaïdès, eds., Asinou across Time: Studies in the Architecture and Murals of the Panagia Phorbiotissa, Cyprus (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, October 2012), 416pp.

About this book, the publisher tells us:

The church of Asinou is among the most famous in Cyprus. Built around 1100, the edifice, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is decorated with accretions of images, from the famous fresco cycle executed shortly after initial construction to those made in the early seventeenth century. During this period the church served the adjacent monastery of the Mother of God ton Phorbion (“of the vetches”), and was subject to Byzantine, Lusignan (1191–1474), Venetian (1474–1570), and Ottoman rule. This monograph is the first on one of Cyprus’s major diachronically painted churches. Written by an international team of renowned scholars, the book sets the accumulating phases of Asinou’s art and architecture in the context of the changing fortunes of the valley, of Cyprus, and of the eastern Mediterranean. Chapters include the first continuous history of the church and its immediate setting; a thorough analysis of its architecture; editions, translations, and commentary on the poetic inscriptions; art-historical studies of the post-1105/6 images in the narthex and nave; a detailed comparative analysis of the physical and chemical properties of the frescoes; and a diachronic table of paleographical forms.