Ἡ Ἱερά Μονή τῆς ἁγίας Βαρβάρας εἰς Ἀργάκαν.
(Εἰσέτι ὑπό συλλογήν στοιχείων)

Ἡ Ἱερά Μονή τῆς ἁγίας Βαρβάρας, πλησίον τοῦ χωρίου Ἀργάκα, Πάφου, προφανῶς ὑπῆρξεν καί τό κίνητρον τῆς ἐγκαταστάσεως πέριξ αὐτῆς οἰκισμοῦ, δηλαδή, πόλος τοῦ σημερινοῦ χωρίου. Κεῖται βορειοανατολικῶς τῆς Πόλης-Χρυσοχοῦς. Ἐντός τῆς Μονῆς ὑπῆρχεν ἁγίασμα, «Βρυσίν τοῦ Καλοήρου», πλησίον τοῦ ὁποίου εἶχον δημιουργηθῆ λουτρά ἰαματικά. Ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν κατά καιρούς ἀνακαινίσεων τοῦ ναοῦ, καθίσταται δύσκολος ὁ προσδιορισμός τοῦ ἒτους ἀνεγέρσεως τῆς Μονῆς, ἐκ τῶν ὀλίγων ὃμως οἰκοδομικῶν στοιχείων τοῦ ναοῦ, εἰκάζεται ὃτι ἀνηγέρθη τόν 18ον αἰῶνα. Ὑπήγετο ὑπό τήν πνευματικήν δικαιοδοσίαν τοῦ Πατριαρχείου Ἱεροσολύμων. Ἐγένετο εὑρέως γνωστή κατά τό ἒτος 1821, χρονολογίαν κατά τήν ὁποίαν ἐσφαγιάσθη ὁ Ἡγούμενος αὐτῆς, Ἱερομόναχος Σωφρόνιος εἰς τήν πλατείαν Σεραγίου. Ἡ Μονή μετά ταῦτα παρήκμασε οἱ δέ χῶροι αὐτῆς κατέστησαν ἐρείπια. Μετά πολλάς καί περιπετειώδεις διεκδικήσεις καί καταπατήσεις κτημάτων, τά πέριξ τῆς Μονῆς κτήματα, ἐκτάσεως 1256 στρεμμάτων ἐπωλήθησαν τό 1952, μέρος δέ τούτων περιῆλθεν εἰς τό τμῆμα Δασονομίας. Σήμερον σώζεται μόνον ὁ ναός αὐτῆς πλησίον τοῦ Κοιμητηρίου καί χρησιμοποιεῖται ὡς ἐξωκκλήσι τῆς ἐκεῖ ὀρθοδόξου Κοινότητος, ὑπό τήν Μητρόπολιν Πάφου, εἰς τό ἐκκλησιαστικόν Μουσεῖον τῆς ὁποίας ἐκτίθενται εἰκόνες καί ἀντικείμενα τῆς Μονῆς.

The country church of Aghia Varvara (Saint Barbara), is located east of the village Argaka. It has been extensively renovated and only the few capitals of columns and the carved framings around the doors reveal its age, probably being of the 18th century. I. Tsiknopoullos mentions the following: “One English mile north of the village of Argaka close to a spring, the “Agiotafitiko” (a dependency of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem) Monastery of Saint Varvara used to operate. In 1821 its Prior was the “Agiotafitis” Monk Sofronios. Wealthy, owning two houses in Argaka, he had bee-hives, livestock, and a large flock apart from the staff of servants and two Deacons. During July of 1821 he was summoned to Nicosia by the Turkish Authorities where he martyred along with the other national Martyrs. Sofronios, versed in the Turkish language, had served for seven years as the Imam of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople but he then regretted and reconverted to the religion of his fathers. Regarding the Monastery of Saint Varvara, Kyriazis reports the follwoing: “How it was established, we do not know. It belonged to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and it operated until 1821, having at that time a Prior and two Deacons apart from the staff of servants. Most likely, the national Martyr Sofronios must have been the last prior of the Monastery”. A spring of holy water is also extant close to today’s country church of Saint Varvara. It is worth noting that the country church of Saint Varvara with the holy water spring next to it is located about one kilometer north of the settlement, at a venue known as “Vrysin tou Kalogirou” (the Monk’s Fountain). Prior Sofronios was known as the “Kalogiros”. It is not yet certain whether the Monastery of Saint Varvara was the core of Argaka’s settlement or if the inhabitants of some other settlement -probably in the neighboring forest -transferred to the settlement of Argaka during some phase of the 19th or previous centuries. Place-name: “Argaka”, as it is marked in the official maps instead of “Arkaka” in the Cypriot dialect. In the local dialect “arkatz’in” is the stream and its feminine form implies a large stream.

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