Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa

Marian vocation of Pafos (Cyprus)

According to the tradition, la advocación de Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa (Our Lady of the Golden Grenada) is attached to a miraculous icon of the Virgin who would have been painted by the Apostle Luke and thrown into the sea in Asia Minor during the iconoclast period to save him from destruction. During the drifting, the waves would have taken him to the coast of Pafos, to the place called Moullia. An erect monk, Ignatioswho lived in the area of Kremati, saw on August 15, 1152 a great glow on the coast; following that light he found the icon, then moved it to the mountain and built there a monastery dedicated to the Virgin, under the advocation of Chrysorrogiatissa, "Our Lady of the Golden Granada."

Main data

Origin and history

According to the tradition, la advocación de Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa (Our Lady of the Golden Grenada) is attached to a miraculous icon of the Virgin who would have been painted by the Apostle Luke and thrown into the sea in Asia Minor during the iconoclast period to save him from destruction. During the drifting, the waves would have taken him to the coast of Pafos, to the place called Moullia. An erect monk, Ignatioswho lived in the area of Kremati, saw on August 15, 1152 a great glow on the coast; following that light he found the icon, then moved it to the mountain and built there a monastery dedicated to the Virgin, under the advocation of Chrysorrogiatissa, "Our Lady of the Golden Granada."

As for the documented historyvarious sources agree that the Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa was founded in 1152 by the monk Ignatios, near the town of Panagia, in the district of Pafos, in the western part of Cyprus. It's a rite monastery. orthodox dedicated to the Virgin Mary, known in Greek as Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa o Chrysoroyiatissa. The present structure of the monastery is not the original of the 12th century: the building as it is preserved today dates back, according to the studies, to a reconstruction carried out between 1760 y 1770. They do not contain, in the sources consulted, specific interventions of the Catholic Church or changes in jurisdiction; it is a sanctuary of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

The image and the sanctuary

La image the main venerated in the monastery is an icon of the Virgin Mary with Christof a Byzantine type, which tradition considers the work of the Apostle and Evangelist Luke. The icon is currently located coated with gold and silver sheets, according to the customs of oriental veneration, so that the original support and many of its pictorial details are hidden by the curling or metal coating. It is venerated as a miraculous icon and is the center of the liturgical life of the monastery. The available sources do not specify in detail the iconographic type (e.g., Hodigitria o Eleousa), but clearly indicate that it is a Christ and the Virgin.

El sanctuary where this advocation is venerated is the Monasterio de Panagia Chrysorrogiatissalocated in a natural mountainous and wooded environment, near the village of Panagia, about 37 km north-east of Pafos. It is an active Orthodox monastery dedicated to Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate. The monastic set, reconstructed in the 18th century, presents the typical typology of the Cypriot monasteries: buildings organized around a central courtyard, with the main church that houses the icon, community dependencies and a treasure of icons and liturgical utensils, which opens to visitors at certain times. It is not recorded in the documents consulted that the monastery has been declared minor basilica ni National sanctuary on the part of the Catholic Church; this is an important pilgrimage center orthodoxand cultural recognition at national level.

Sponsorship and coronation

La advocación de Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa is particularly linked to the Prickly pear and the environment of the Panagiawhere the monastery is a spiritual center of reference. The tourist and cultural sources emphasize the importance of the monastery for the area, but no consta a formal proclamation, in canonical terms, of this Virgin as an official patron of a city, municipality or diocese according to the terminology commonly used in Latin canon law. The devotion, however, is clearly regional and deeply rooted in the western part of Cyprus.

On the canonical coronation, the documentation consulted (sources on the monastery, cultural pages, travel guides and collections on the icon) does not mention documented canonical coronation in the technical sense used in the Catholic Church (Pontifical Decree or delegated act on behalf of the Pope). In Orthodox tradition, icons can be adorned with crowns and metal coatings by local decision, but this does not amount to "canonical coronation" according to Roman use. Therefore, according to the available data, does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

The tradition places the icon finding on the date of the 15 August 1152the great solemnity of the Sleep / Assumption of the Virgin in the Byzantine calendar. It is reasonable to assume - although the sources consulted do not explicitly detail it - that this date has a particular weight in the liturgical life of the monastery, since the Sleep is one of the great Marian parties of the Orthodox year and that for that day the foundational event is located. However, the general information pages on the monastery focus mainly on its history and location, without offering a detailed calendar of parties and celebrations.

The monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa is described as a place of pilgrimage and frequent visitamidst a landscape of great beauty, which contributes to the influx of faithful and visitors. In addition to its spiritual dimension, the monastery is known in Cyprus for the production of monastic wine, which reinforces its presence in local life and the visits of pilgrims and tourists, although this characteristic is not strictly devotional. The sources consulted do not indicate inflow figures or describe specific popular traditions (processions, specific pleas, etc.) linked to this advocation; beyond the veneration of the icon, no constan quantitative data and customs in the available sources.

Link to the Rosary

In the Orthodox sources and descriptions of Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa a specific link between this advocation and the prayer of Rosary, understood in the proper sense of Latin Catholic tradition. In the Orthodox spirituality, Marian prayer is expressed in another way (hymns, akathists, prayer of Jesus, etc.), so that no consta a direct historical or devotional link between Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa and the Rosary.

However, for a faithful Catholic, the Rosary It offers a privileged way to join the mystery of Christ contemplated with Mary, also when devotion has its origin in the Eastern tradition. The joyful, painful, glorious and luminous mysteries allow us to meditate, with the Virgin, the Incarnation, the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, as well as its glorification and the mission of the Church. In this sense, in contemplating Our Lady of the Golden GrenadaThe prayer of the Rosary can become a means of spiritual communion with the Christians of the East who venerate this icon, asking for the unity of Christians, for peace in Cyprus and for a growing veneration of the mystery of Christ through the Mother of God.