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This is still quite a mystery. On a drive towards the Troodos mountains I noted a sign at the road side saying simply "Cave of the 318 fathers". I made a note and decided to take a look when I had more time. We were staying at the Agapinor hotel at the time and we had met Jean who is an archaeologist, she was very interested in our find and suggested that we go for a look. She was very excited when she saw the cave. It is still in use, has good access and she thought very old. We decided to return on a Sunday when people would be at the church near by. We were directed to the taverna just above the cave and the owner said it was dated early 4th or 6th century. It seemed that monks had left Pissourie on the coast and built a new monastery in the village at Pano Archimandrita. Over the centuries the monastery flourished then died, there are no visible signs of it now. However the bones of the dead monks from the monastery have been placed in this cave. On the wall of the cave is an iron grill and behind this the cave extends, and with our torch beam we could see many long bones and sculls. Jean counted more than 20 sculls. These must be some of the 318 fathers. As Jean said more research needs to be done when the museum's have cash to spare. |
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