When I was in Cyprus we not only visited different sacred temples of Aphrodite and other Greek gods and goddesses, we also visited a number of Greek Orthodox monasteries and each one has its own feeling. Monasteries are normally named after a particular saint and most of them have a church or chapel either within the monastery or attached to it. What makes each one unique is the vibration of the saint that the monastery is dedicated to. The monastery may not even have been built in his time, but his spirit is in the land the monastery would later be built on. His spirit becomes imbued in the bricks and mortar and wood of his monastery by the devout workers building it. It is further imbued with the prayers and reverence emitted by all of the worshipers over the centuries.

It is easy to understand why no two chapels and monasteries are the same. Yet the feeling of sacredness can be felt in each. Sometimes that feeling is right there when you first step foot in the chapel and sometimes it makes itself felt in front of a particular icon. The chapel in St. Neophytos’s monastery is no exception and radiates that same devotional feeling.

Still, for me, there was something more than that there as well. I not only felt the energy that built up over time. I also I felt a strong connection to the saint himself. He wasn’t just a figure on an icon or a painting. He felt alive to me, and I realized it was because of who he was as a human being.

He was born in 1134, one of eight children and came from a very poor family, although a very devote one. This affected him deeply and from a very young age he wanted to join a monastery and be mentored by a holy man. This came to light when his parents arranged a marriage for him. He ran away to a monastery rather than comply and after a time was found and had to return home. Eventually his parents understood the depth of his commitment to the quiet life, and he was allowed to go back to the monastery. However, he was not allowed to be a hermit at that point because he was considered to be too young.

Not only that, he had to serve his time as a novice, before he was considered ready to be tonsured. On that day, as soon as the service was completed, he “describes the joy that he felt at that moment in the following words: Never has anyone been so captivated by their clothing as much as I have by the wearing of the monastic garment.” How could you not love this guy.

So now he is a monk and works in the vineyards for over five years, but he still wasn’t able to devote himself fully to study. However, he was able to do was learn how to read and write and he was driven to do so, from the very first time he heard someone reading the story of creation. The words sparked something in him and “filled his soul with a joy that he had never felt before. In his heart there was kindled the love of the knowledge of the Mysteries of God. He asked God to give him the Grace to understand the words of the Divine Books, for as we said earlier, he was illiterate.”

At this point, he asks for permission to travel to the Holy Land where he hopes to live as an ascetic under the guidance of a hermit. He is now 24 years old. He does go and travels from monastery to monastery, searching, but this doesn’t work out either. He can’t find a hermit to learn the way of life of the retired monks. However, he does have a divine vision that he is on the right track with wanting to live a quiet life, only just not there in the Holy Land. So, he finds his way back to Cyprus and then gets arrested as he tries to land in Paphos for being an ascetic and is forbidden to ever leave Cypress. He is released the next day, but his travel funds are stolen, and he finally surrenders to Divine Will and settles near Paphos. He spends fifteen months shaping his cave, first building the mouth of the cave facing east and then setting the entrance from the south. He furnished his little domain with holy icons and spiritual books and eventually would write some of his own. He lived there continuously, “conversing ‘alone with God alone’. He was grounded in unshakeable faith and fervent love of God. “

You would hope this would be the end of his story, but his adventures aren’t over yet. After a few years, he becomes known and as his fame spreads, many people come to him for his prayers and blessings. Eventually a local bishop pressures him to become a priest and take on a disciple. He fights it for a few years and eventually concedes. After his ordination, he founded a monastery so that other monks could live close to the hermitages, as disciples and so that they could enjoy the benefits of the monastic life.

That led to other things and demands multiplied. His much-desired quietude was invaded, so he came up with another plan. He decided he would move higher up from his cave, where visitors would not be able to bother him. He desperately didn’t want to lose the quietude and the withdrawal from life that would bring him knowledge of God. He lives out his life there. It is said he knew when he would die and at the age of 85, as he is dying his “heart leaps at the prospect of a “person to person encounter with his Beloved.”

There are so many other stories I could tell about this incredible man, but this is enough to give you a little glimpse into who he was. He knew what he wanted to do from an early age. He was thwarted time and again and yet, he never lost sight of his goal. He was a monk, under the rule of the monastery and he did what he was asked to do year after year until he could finally dedicate his life to the study of God through prayer and scriptures and he wrote a number of books.

Some of those books are in a museum displaying many of his sacred items. In fact, when we arrived at his site, we entered there first and met a charming man who was the caretaker of that museum. He took a shining to us and spent a good fifteen minutes telling us about the life of St. Neophytos and it was very clear that he had an up close and personal relationship with this saint. Was he a retired monk himself? I don’t know. I only know that through his words and the feelings behind them, St. Neophytos came alive to me, and he is now my go to guy when I just need some quiet time alone, to just shut the world out for a few hours. I pretend I am in his cave, surrounded by his books and for a little while the outer world doesn’t exist.

Linda CA

Please let me introduce you to St. Neophytos.