Overview

The magnificent Lefkara Church is dedicated to the Holy Cross and dates back to the 14th century. According to the byzantinologist Athanasios Papageorgiou the eastern part of the Church dates back to the 14th century, namely after considering rescued frescoes behind the church’s iconostasis. This date is also confirmed by the metrical “Olivianos’ inscription”, which appears at the bottom of the Lefkara Golden Cross. There is written evidence that Olivianos was a Lefkara Bishop in 1307 during the occupation period by the Franks. This fact is also confirmed undeniably by the founder’s note on a manuscript dating back to the 14th century, which is kept in the Church’s safe. At the end of this manuscript, which is a precious Evangeliary it is noted that it was written in 1345/46 and that the monk Gabriel who was the abbot and the founder of the “Holy and Life-giver Revealed Cross” monastery paid all the expenses. In 1740 the church was restored and the wooden sculptured iconostasis was then made by the Rhodian sculptor Hadjikyriacos who was called in by the church-warden Lourentzos to this end. An inscription at the bottom of the icon of the Deposition of Christ gives evidence that in 1761 the iconostasis was gold-plated and the then Kition Bishop Makarios attended the ceremony on this occasion. In 1857 the magnificent bell-tower of the Church, the bells of which were donated by devout Christian people from Lefkara living abroad, was constructed.