Agios Neophytos Monastery and the Enkleistra

Agios Neophytos is the great monastery on the outskirts of Paphos, and what makes it unique isn’t the church but the cave where its founder lived shut away. Here’s its story, the sights and the bus that gets you there. The neighbouring village is covered in Tala.

Who was Neophytos?

The Metropolis of Paphos relates that Neophytos was born in Lefkara in 1134 and at 18 left home, and the marriage being arranged for him, to become a monk at the monastery of Agios Ioannis Chrysostomos, where he learned to read. After a journey to the Holy Land he returned to Cyprus, found a small cave on Mount Melissovouno, north-west of Paphos, and settled there. He spent about 60 years in his retreat, wrote religious and historical works and died in 1219.

From the cave he recorded what was happening outside, the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187, that of Constantinople in 1204 and the passing of Cyprus to Richard the Lionheart, the Templars and the Lusignans, which is why he’s counted among the important historians of his age.

The Enkleistra

The Pafos tourism board explains that the Enkleistra was a natural cave on the eastern slope of the hill, with a deep ravine in front carrying a torrent. According to his own Typikon, the rule he wrote in 1214, Neophytos shut himself in it in 1159. He split it into two spaces, a small chapel of the Holy Cross and his cell, where he also carved his tomb, connected to the sanctuary.

In 1170 Bishop Vasilios Kinnamos of Paphos ordained him a priest, his fame spread across the island and a community of monks formed around him. Seeking more solitude, he carved out another cave higher up with a chapel of Agios Ioannis. Tradition also recalls an Old Enkleistra near Souskiou, with 15th or 16th-century frescoes, which probably wasn’t his.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Paphos for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

The monastery

The katholikon, the monastery church, probably dates from the early 16th century. It’s a three-aisled, barrel-vaulted basilica with a dome, and it was fully painted, though much of the fresco work was lost between 1585 and 1611. According to the Metropolis of Paphos, the saint founded a church dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin before he died.

His tomb had been forgotten over time and was found on 28 September 1750, the date of the monastery’s great feast. The other falls on 24 January, recalling how in 1198 he survived a fall into the ravine while carving the upper cave.

Getting there

Pafos Buses route 604 leaves Karavela station, runs through Empa and Tala and ends at the monastery, six times on weekdays and four on Saturdays. I haven’t found official visiting hours published, so it’s worth asking first. Down towards the coast, about 5 km as the crow flies, is Lempa, with its Chalcolithic settlement. For the night, Paphos makes the easiest base.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Agios Neophytos Monastery on GetYourGuide.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Paphos: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Paphos for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.