Monastery / frescoes

The Monastery of Saints Marina and Raphael

Three churches, frescoes and stories of martyrs connect this Cypriot monastery with Antioch and the island of Lesbos.

Fourteenth century

The monastery lies near Larnaca; a road sign from the Ayia Napa–Larnaca motorway leads towards it. The site originally contained a monastery of Saint Marina. Today the grounds include the old Church of Saint Marina, the Church of Saint Raphael and a new church.

The Great Martyr Marina was born in Antioch in the third century, raised as a Christian and killed during the persecutions. Saint Raphael was martyred on Lesbos after the fall of Constantinople; Nicholas and the young girl Irene are venerated with him.

The relics of Raphael and Irene were found in the twentieth century after accounts of dreams and indications of the burial place. In the old Church of Saint Marina we examine the surviving frescoes, and in the courtyard compare three churches from different periods.