γεμάτη με σταλακτίτες και σταλαγμίτες, παραμένει άγνωστη και ανεξερεύνητη και στο έλεος του κάθε τυχόντα βάνδαλου αυτών των δημιουργημάτων της φύσης.
Σε καιρούς όπου οι κάτοικοι της Έμπας κινδύνευαν είτε από τους Σαρακινούς, είτε από τους Τούρκους, έβρισκαν καταφύγιο στην σπηλιά του Αγίου Λαμπριανού, της οποίας η είσοδος μέχρι πολύ πρόσφατα, ήταν εξ ολοκλήρου καλυμμένη από τεράστιες πυκνές βάτους. Σύμφωνα με την παράδοση της Έμπας, σε μια από τις επιδρομές των Σαρακηνών, κάποιος έκρυψε στη σπηλιά του Αγίου Λαμπριανού ένα σακκί γεμάτο χρυσές λίρες για να μην του τις πάρουν. Όμως αυτός ο άνθρωπος ήταν άδικος και τις λίρες στο σακκί τις κέρδισε άδικα και γι αυτό και ο Άγιος Λαμπριανός δεν τον άφησε να τις βρει όπου και να έψαχνε. Πιστεύεται ότι το σακκί με τις χρυσές λίρες είναι ακόμη κρυμμένο εκεί, αφού όσο και αν έψαξαν, κανείς δεν μπόρεσε να τις βρει.
Ο Άγιος Λαμπριανός τυγχάνει μεγάλου σεβασμού από τους κατοίκους της Έμπας και των χωριών της γύρω περιοχής αφού έχει κάνει πολλά θαύματα και έχει γιατρέψει πολλή κόσμο. Στα πιο παλιά χρόνια η σπηλιά του Αγίου ήταν γεμάτη από ρούχα, αφού οι πιστοί άφηναν τα ρούχα τους στον Άγιο για να τους γιατρέψει. Για αυτό το λόγο, αν κάποιο σπίτι ήταν ακατάστατο με ρούχα πεταγμένα εδώ και εκεί, έλεγαν ότι το σπίτι ήταν "όπως την σπηλιά του Αή Λιμπρού". Ακόμη και σήμερα, μερικοί πιστοί συνεχίζουν να φέρνουν τα ρούχα τους στον Άγιο. Πιστεύεται επίσης ότι ο Άγιος γιατρεύει τους πονοκεφάλους, και υπάρχει η συνήθεια οι πιστοί να βγάζουν τρίχες από το κεφάλι τους και να τις κολλούν στην εικόνα του Αγίου για να τους γιατρέψει τον πονοκέφαλο. Πολλοί είναι επίσης αυτοί που είδαν το Άγιο να κάθεται στη σπηλιά του, εκεί στο μέρος που συνήθιζε να κοιμάται, και που σώζεται δίπλα από το προσκυνητάρι του.
Cyprus has offered to Hellenism in particular and Orthodoxy in general and Christianity as a whole, over 240 recognized saints. For this reason, Cyprus is aptly named as The Isle of the Saints, since from such a small place came so many sanctified people. Cyprus is therefore a holy place and the island is sactified from one end to the other. At the same time, along with all those saints recognized by the Church of Cyprus, there are dozens of others, especially local saints who are worshiped by the people, but are not recognized by the official Church of Cyprus. These dubious by the Church, Cypriot saints, have no synaxari nor is their memory celebrated. The only exception among all these local saints is Saint Lambrianos the miracle maker who has neither a synaxari, nor is celebrated by the Church, but at the same time he is officially recognized by the Church of Cyprus itself as one of its saints. His idiosyntric position in the Church of Cyprus makes him as the only officially recognized saint of the Church in Cyprus, whose memory is not honored since his name is absent from the church calendar of the Cypriot Church.
Saint Lambrianos the miracle maker is a local saint of Paphos, who might well have been unknown to the rest of the people of Cyprus, if the catacomb dedicated to his name was not just opposite the famous catacomb of Saint Solomoni in Kato Paphos. The catacomb of Saint Lambrianos may be the poor relave next to the fame of the catacomb of Saint Solomoni with its old tremythia tree next to it with scarves hanging. However, thanks to this location, Saint Lamprianos has become well known throughout Cyprus and beyond.
The catacomb of Saint Lambrianos in Kato Paphos might be known to many, but what is known only by few people is that this is not the only place in Cyprus, where the Saint is revered. In the area of Petridkia in the village of Emba which is located in Paphos there is cave where the Saint is also worshiped. So there are two places of worship for the Saint and not one. In the village of Emba Saint Lambrianos is also known as Saint Limpros and the cave is called "Cave of Saint Limbros". From the big openning of the cave there is water running all year round and it is believed that it stems from the village of Tsada which is located at a distance of about 10km. from Emba. This water is considered to be the Holy Water of Saint Lambrianos and it is believed that it cleanses skin diseases of all kinds. But what makes the cave unique is that after a person enters through its depths, he or she will be surprised to find themselves facing beautiful stalactites and stalagmites millions of years old. The length of the cave is very deep but after walking some distance using powerful torches or lanterns, at some point, the cave narrows and it's no long possible for humans to go beyond this point, so no one knows what's in the cave after that. It may sound unbelievable, but a large cave like this, filled with stalactites and stalagmites, remains unknown and unexplored, and these creations of nature are left at the mercy of possible vandals.
Saint Lambrianos enjoys great respect from the residents of Emba and the villagers of the surrounding area since he has made many miracles and has heal many people. In older times in past years, the cave of saint Lambrianos was full of clothes, as it was the custom of the faithful leave their clothes to the Saint so he could heal them. For this reason, if a house was messy with clothes dropped here and there, people used to say that the house was "like the cave of Saint Limbros". Even today, some believers continue to take their clothes to the Saint. It is also believed that Saint Lambrianos cures headaches, and it is the habit of believers to remove hair from their heads and stick it to the icon of the Saint to cure their headache. Many are also those who saw the Saint sitting in his cave, at the area where he used to sleep, and which still exist next to the shrine.
Κανείς δεν γνωρίζει από που είναι και πότε έζησε ο Άγιος Λαμπριανός, και αν δεν ήταν για τον αγιογράφο Παρθένιο που ζωγράφισε την εικόνα του κάπου στα τέλη του 18 ου ή αρχές του 19 ου αιώνα, δεν θα γνωρίζαμε την όψη του. Πιθανότατα ο Άγιος να ήταν ένας από τους τριακόσιους Αλαμάνους αγιούς που ήρθαν στην Κύπρο από την Παλαιστίνη κι ασκήτεψαν σε διάφορα μέρη του νησιού. Πιθανόν επίσης να έζησε πρώτα στην κατακόμβη του στη Κάτω Πάφο και μετά για κάποιο λόγο να μετακινήθηκε στην σπηλία αυτή στη Έμπα.
Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι πάνω από την σπηλιά του Αγίου Λαμπριανού, προς τα ανατολικά, υπήρχε παλιά μικρό Μετόχι του Μοναστηριού του Σταυρού του Ομόδους με Ναό αφιερωμένο στον Άγιο Ακάκιο ο οποίος δεν σώζεται πλέον, ενώ προς τα νότια της σπηλιάς σώζεται Βυζαντινός Ναός αφιερωμένος στον Άγιο Γεώργιο.
Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι πάνω από την σπηλιά του Αγίου Λαμπριανού, προς τα ανατολικά, υπήρχε παλιά μικρό Μετόχι του Μοναστηριού του Σταυρού του Ομόδους με Ναό αφιερωμένο στον Άγιο Ακάκιο ο οποίος δεν σώζεται πλέον, ενώ προς τα νότια της σπηλιάς σώζεται Βυζαντινός Ναός αφιερωμένος στον Άγιο Γεώργιο.
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Saint Lambrianos the miracle maker is a local saint of Paphos, who might well have been unknown to the rest of the people of Cyprus, if the catacomb dedicated to his name was not just opposite the famous catacomb of Saint Solomoni in Kato Paphos. The catacomb of Saint Lambrianos may be the poor relave next to the fame of the catacomb of Saint Solomoni with its old tremythia tree next to it with scarves hanging. However, thanks to this location, Saint Lamprianos has become well known throughout Cyprus and beyond.
In times where the residents of Emba were in danger from the Saracens, or the Turks, they found refuge in the cave of Saint Lambrianos, whose entrance until very recently, was entirely covered by huge thick bush. According to the tradition of Emba, in one of the raids of the Saracens, someone hid in the cave of Saint Lambrianos a sack full of gold coins so that they would not take them. However, this man was unjust and the coins in the sack were by unfair ways and this is why Saint Lambrianos did not let him find them again no matter where he looked for them. It is believed that the sack with the gold coins is still hidden there because no matter how much people have looked for it, nobody could find it so far.
Nobody knows from where Saint Lambrianos came from or when he lived, and if it was not for the iconographer Parthenios who painted his icon somewhere in the late 18th or early 19th century, we wouldn't have known even how he looked like. Probably the saint was one of the three hundred Alaman saints who came to Cyprus from Palestine and lived as ascetics in various parts of the island. He might have firstly lived in the catacomb of Kato Paphos and then for some reason moved to the cave in Emba. It is worth noting that over the cave of Saint Lambrianos, to the east, in older times there used to be a dependency of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Omodos consisting of land and a church dedicated to Saint Akakios which no longer survives , while to the south of the cave there is a preserved Byzantine church dedicated to Saint George.
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Noctoc

2 comments:
πολύ ωραίο
είδα πολλές φορές την πινακίδα που λέει "Άγιος Λαμπριανός" αλλά ποτέ δεν πήγα. Την επόμενη φορά θα πάω σίγουρα :)
Χαίρομαι :-)
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