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| St. George the Macheromenos (Feast Day - December 31) |
Saint George the Macheromenos ("the Stabbed") is a Cypriot Saint who today is unknown to most people. This Saint is mentioned by the medieval Cypriot chronicler Leontios Macheras in his Chronicle: "In Achliontas, there is Saint George the Macheromenos, who is a local and a wonderworker."
Kataliontas was a small settlement, about 1 km southeast of the village of Analiontas. The area is under the jurisdiction of the village of Analiontas. In the middle of the road leading from the village of Analiontas to the village of Lithrodontas in Nicosia, near the abandoned village of Kataliontas, there are the ruins of the ancient Church of Saint George the Macheromenos. Nearchos Clerides, a Cypriot folklore scientist, writes that during the years of Frankish rule, but also during the Byzantine period, the village of Analiontas and particularly this church were famous for the many miracles that Saint George the Macheromenos performed. The fame of this church is the miraculous icon of Saint George the Macheromenos, which for many years adorned Saint Marina, the main village church of Analiontas. Nowadays, the icon of the Saint is kept at the Archdiocese in Nicosia.
Saint George is likely to have been an ascetic hermit in the region, because beside the ruined church, in the southeast, on a hill which dominates the area, on its eastern side, there are two caves, one small and one large, where it's likely that the Saint lived in one of them.
The memory of Saint George the Macheromenos is celebrated on December 31.
