Description
This study aims at illustrating the daily life and living reality of Cyprus. This reality is that ancient pagan practices and customs have never vanished from our island. These traditions, taking new forms and expressions in conformity with Christian doctrine and ritual, have survived even to the present day. It is a phenomenon characteristic of Cyprus and its people.
Archaeological excavations have often revealed that the earliest Christian and Byzantine churches were built on the ruins of temples raised to the gods of Olympus. The men who gradually embraced the new religion of the Nazarene were the same who, heretofore, had worshipped the ancient gods.
This study gives eloquent testimony to these facts. It demonstrates that there has been no serious break in the historic continuity of life on the island. The psychic make-up of the Cypriot people has retained its original charm based on a combination of orthodox Christianity with the Hellenic sense of beauty.
– from the Note
