Agioi Iliofoti

Agioi Iliofoti is a deserted village in Nicosia in Cyprus and it is situated 36 kilometers southwest of Nicosia, 72 kilometers north of Limassol, 72 kilometers northwest of Larnaca and 129 kilometers northeast of Paphos.

A settlement at 1.5 km east of Kato Moni and Mount Koroni, Agioi Iliofoti was a purely Turkish Cypriot village abandoned in 1964, when the intra-communal riots began in Cyprus, with a Turkish Cypriot uprising and the beginning of the establishment of Turkish areas in parts of Cyprus.

The community was destroyed in the late 1970s and 1980s, while in 2011 there were about 60 foreign citizens working in nearby industries. Near the abandoned village today, there is a chapel dedicated to five brothers who were sanctified through their ascetic life, Saint Iliofotos, Epaphroditos, Ammonios, Chouleleos and Efsthenios. The small chapel dates back to 1750 and celebrates on the Monday of Easter and the day of the Feast of the Saints on July 13, while on the eve of the celebration a big feast takes place. In the cave there are the graves of the 5 saints and their relics, as well as the Holy Source, which, according to tradition, came out of the rock and still supplies the village of Kato Moni.

The Agioi Iliofoti were among the 300 Alaman monks who went to Jerusalem in order to free it from the barbarians. Having defeated them, they went to the Jordanian desert and found a ship to return to their homeland. Because of the fierce winds, the ship arrived in Cyprus and so the saints dispersed in all parts of the island, living and practicing asceticism. The five brothers, the Saints Iliofoti, came to the area of ​​Koroni Mountain.