Holy Cross - Three Stamps and Card from Cyprus (Christmas 1993)
CYPRUS 1993 CHRISTMAS ISSUE: THE HOLY CROSS-ORTHODOX CHURCH EMBLEM (BIG FORMAT ILLUSTRATED CARD. ONLY 4200 NUMBERED CARDS WERE CIRCULATED. ORIGINAL SIZE 31 X 21 5cm)
FROM THE CARD:
The theme of the present Christmas issue is the Holy Cross, the
emblem and symbol of the Orthodox Church
7C: The carved wooden cross at Stavrouni Monastery is one of
the oldest carved wooden crosses preserved in the Orthodox Church. The Cross
stands on a foot decorated with 32 carved representations from the Old
Testament. On the Cross there are 12 representations from the New Testament. According to an inscription on the foot, the Cross is the work of the wood carver Georgios
Laskaris dated 1476. In 1792 the Cross
was covered in silver at the expense of Dragomano Hadji Georgakis Kornesios.
20C: The Cross at Lefkara village is the biggest cross with
silver cover in Cyprus. It is also the oldest cross of its kind dating back to
the 14th Century. The cross was repaired twice: in 1603 when four round representations were
added to decorate the back of the cross and in 1933 when the representation of
the Crucifix was added as shown on the stamp.
25C: The Cross at Pedoulas village. It has silver cover with
repousse representation One side of the
cross which depicts scenes from the Twelve Main feasts (Dodekaorton) is older
than the other side and could be dated back to the 17th
century. On this side of the Cross there
is a representation of the Birth of Christ, which follows the established Byzantine
Iconography. The other side is much more
recent and, according to an inscription, dates to 1839.
