The Legacy of Joseph Barnabas in Cyprus

"The Holy Apostle Barnabas" icon in the Church of Barnabas in Salamis. Note that he is seated on a throne like a king.

Living in Cyprus is for me a bit like standing with one foot in 2011 and the other in the earlier centuries of the church. Previously, when I read stories like The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (a late second or early third century text), I never took such texts seriously. Their intention seems to be to amaze listeners and to glorify Jesus.

Thomas describes the boy Jesus making birds out of clay and clapping his hands and bringing the birds to life. When an older bully destroys some pools of water that Jesus made, Jesus pronounces a curse on the boy, who dries up completely. Another child strikes Jesus on the shoulder, so Jesus strikes him dead with a word (see http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancythomas.html for the text). To be honest, I don’t much care for this view of Jesus. He seems to be a divine boy who is a loose canon. With the other parents in the story, I would ask Mary and Joseph to please keep their son away from my children. Read the rest of this entry »

Fr. Gabriel, Fr. Charitan and Mike at the reception at the Church of St. Barnabas

Friday evening Styliana (pronounced Steel-e-AN-a) called to say that Fr. Gabriel (pronounced Gav-REEL) had reserved two seats on a minibus for us. “Be at the Kykkos Monastery complex in Nicosia at 5:45 A.M.” Being tired from a full day on Friday, we groaned, but we readily accepted the invitation. How often do you get a chance to attend a special Orthodox liturgy at the tomb of St. Barnabas, in which the Abbot of the Monastery of Barnabas elevates Fr. Christos, his understudy, to full stature as a monk and confers upon him a new name (Charitan)?

So we got up at 4:30 to make sure we were not late, and we rode in a very old Toyota minibus—as in no seat belts in the four bench seats in the back with to little leg room for folks our height. And it was an adventure.

People standing outside the chapel over the tomb of Barnabas. More continued to come.

At the crossing into Turkish occupied northern Cyprus, the driver of the Land Rover in front of us was ordered to turn back. On a previous occasion, he and his wife were caught cleaning the chapel at the tomb of St. Barnabas without official permission. Evidently such behavior is not tolerated by the Turkish authorities, who jailed the couple and then sent them home. Anyway, we inherited four more passengers. The minibus groaned and sputtered its way to the church. Read the rest of this entry »

Lynne and Steliana at the tomb of Barnabas

Styliana explained to us on the way to the tomb of Barnabas at Salamis that Fr. Gabriel (pronounced Gav-REEL) wanted to come with us. However, she knew that he has not been well, so she talked with his doctor—who said “NO!” to the trip. It would be too much for the old man. But he wanted to see us when we returned.

We entered his office in the expansive monastery grounds around 8:00 to find six or so people sitting or standing. The room was buzzing with activity—like a family gathering, with Fr. Gabriel as the Papa with his children (who so obviously adore him).

During a lull, one woman looked at me and asked, “Why did you come to Cyprus? Did you see something?” I explained that I had not seen a vision or had a dream. I simply became very interested in Barnabas as a result of my research on the Apostle Paul. Read the rest of this entry »

Sufis at the tomb of Barnabas. Lynne watches and listens.

On Thursday, we returned to CAARI from the Archbishopric at 2:30. At 3:45, Steliana picked us up in her Volvo and off we went to Salamis. Along the way, she gave us lessons in Cypriot language and culture. When we arrived at the Church of St. Barnabas, we went first to the small chapel over the cave where, according to tradition, Barnabas was buried. We descended the steep steps, and met two Cypriot Greek women. One comes to the tomb every week to fill the lamp containers with oil and care for the tomb area. The other woman has a 16-year old son with leukemia, and she came to the tomb of Barnabas to pray for healing.

As we were talking, five Muslim men descended the stairs. I thought to myself, “Oh, no. This could be trouble.” The Imam told us that they wanted to “Say the prayers.” I wondered what kind of prayers they would say. Was this going to be one of those Muslim expressions of dominance over Christians? Read the rest of this entry »

Lunch with the Archbishop of Cyprus

Archbishopric in Nicosia

September 28 was simply too full for one blog entry. I must stretch it to three posts. We had lunch with the Archbishop, listened to Sufi Muslims praying at the tomb of St. Barnabas (“They said that Jesus will return this year, and saints like Barnabas will rise at that time to help him rule for 40 years”), and a late dinner with Father Gabriel and some of his spiritual children at the monastery (“Please, pass the pigeon”).

Our audience with Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of Cyprus, was at noon. Faidon Papadopoulos, who heads the Ministry of Education’s division for theological education, served as our interpreter. I had been considering the proper response if the archbishop extended his hand so that I should kiss his ring. Fortunately, His Beatitude is accustomed to foreigners and extended his hand for a handshake. He listened to Papadopoulos translate for me and gave his blessing on my research, telling Papadopoulos to give me whatever help I needed. With that blessing, I have permission to go to the library in the archbishopric and read whatever they have, including archival material. I may also take photos in churches, like the Cathedral of St. John. Read the rest of this entry »