Agios Therapontas Lemesou

Agios Therapontas Lemesou is a village in the homonymous province of Cyprus and is situated 30 km northwest of Limassol, 99 kilometers west of Larnaca, 90 km southwest of Nicosia and 60 kilometers east of Paphos.

A picturesque village built on the Troodos mountain range at an altitude of 650 meters, Agios Therapontas Lemesou is considered one of the “wine villages” of the island with rich natural vegetation and many vineyards due to the soil composition and the favorable climatic conditions. The main variety cultivated here is the black grape, the sultanas, malaga and cardinalios, while there are also a few olive trees and carob trees, citrus trees and vegetables.

Historically the village existed already during the Byzantine period and the Frankish rule, a feud of Petros Podokatorou. The name of the village comes from Saint Therapon (Agios Therapontas) who lived as a hermit in the area of the homonymous church.

In Agios Therapontas Lemesou, visitors will see traditional houses and cobbled streets. Some of the streets in the village are covered with gravel, but what attracts the visitor’s attention are some original constructions that can be found in only a few villages of the island. These buildings are called votes and in them the ground floor constitutes a vaulted hall built with local stone and used as a warehouse for the jars with wine or as a stable for animals. Above the ground floor is the upper floor which is used as a residence.

Inside the village, is the church of Agios Therapontas (Saint Therapon) from the 1880s, situated in the village center. According to tradition, the church was built at the location indicated by the saint, since he saw a lit candle at the point where today stands the church and told so to a shepherd. Inside the church there are fragments of the relics of the saint, while the wooden iconostasis is one of the three that were created by the sculptor Giavopoulos. Saint Therapontas celebrates on October 14 and May 27, when many believers arrive from all over Cyprus.

Next to the church, there is also the chapel of the saint that was built in 1986 and is located next to the sacred spring. Tradition has it that the holy water gushes from the point where St. Therapontas struck with his arrow the earth and found water. Access to both the chapel and the site of the spring is easy.

The chapel of Agios Georgios (St. George) is located to the east of the village and was built in 1996, while in the west of the village there is the chapel of Agion Theodoron kai Myroforon (St. Theodore and Myrrhbearers). The old basilica was swept away by the waters of the river and in its place was built a new chapel. Also, in Agios Therapontas Lemesou there is the basilica of Agion saranta Martyron (Saints Forty Martyrs), in the northeast of the village the church of Agia Paraskevi (St. Paraskevi) and the chapel of Panagia Chrysospiliotissa (Our Lady of Chrysospiliotissa) to the south. The Byzantine chapel was built in 1928 on the site of an older temple and below it there are caves where, according to tradition, hermits found refuge.