Eledio
Eledio is a village in the province of Paphos in Cyprus and it is situated 23 kilometers northeast of the homonymous city, 69 kilometers northwest of Limassol and 153 kilometers southwest of Nicosia.
A small settlement, built at an altitude of 290 meters and surrounded by orchards, towering cypress trees and seasonal crops of the Ezousa river valley, Eledio is almost united with the southern most part of Axylos. The community of the approximately 20 residents is very close to Nata (7 km), Amargeti (4 km), Stavrokonou (11 km), Akxylou (2,5 km) and Episkopi Paphou (7,5 km). The original settlement of the village was about 2 kilometers further south, but after the serious damage it suffered with the great earthquake of 1953 that hit Paphos, the inhabitants moved to its present location. At that time, the British colonial government of Cyprus decided to move both nearby villages, Eledio and Axylos, building prefabricated houses. In fact, the English government on its own initiative moved the 35 Turkish Cypriots of Eledio to the new settlement of Axylos, so that the first would turn into a purely Greek Cypriot settlement and the second would remain a purely Turkish Cypriot village. Nowadays, some dwellings have been built in the context of a small residential development, as there are areas around the village that belong to a residential area.
In the community there used to be the monastery of Saint Irene, but during the Greek Revolution of 1821, the Turks killed the monks and the monastery fell apart, while the church collapsed in the following years, with the ruins lying among the wild vegetation. In place of the monastery a small stone church dedicated to the same saint was built on a hill. Another chapel is that of Agios Georgios (St. George), a small and modern temple built on a hill overlooking the wider area and its vineyards.
Very close to the community and to the north, the vistor will find the famous Panagia Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery (15 km) and the Holy Monastery of Paphos (14 km), two of the most important monasteries in the province. Chrysorrogiatissa is a magnificent building complex that was founded in the 12th century and is a place of pilgrimage for many local and foreign visitors (mainly from Russia), who come here in the thousands every year in order to admire the miraculous icon. The Holy Monastery is one of the most ancient religious sites, since it was built in 300 AD. on the ruins of an ancient Greek temple of the king of Paphos Nicocles (374 / 373-361 BC), which was dedicated to Hera.