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Ι. Μ. Αγ. Βαρβάρας |
Ἡ Ἱερά Μονή τῆς ἁγίας Βαρβάρας εἰς Ἀργάκαν.
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. Copied from: www.argaka.org/english/history.shtml |
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