Maronas

Maronas is an abandoned village in the province of Paphos in Cyprus and it is situated 34 kilometers east of the homonymous city, 52 kilometers northwest of Limassol and 118 kilometers southwest of Nicosia.

Very close to Archimandrita, Mamonia, Agios Georgios Paphou and Prastio Trachypedoulas, Maronas is believed to have been one of the 60 villages inhabited by the Maronite community in Cyprus and was named after the founder and patron saint of the Maronites.

Today it is a deserted settlement in the famous Diarizos valley, but during the Frankish rule of the island the community enjoyed great glories as one of the 14 villages of Paphos that comprised the Little Commandaria of the Knights of St. John who were based in the village of Foinikas.

A large religious center later on (under the Venetian occupation) and the seat of the Latin Catholic Diocese with a very large monastery, Maronas with the beginning of the Ottoman domination in 1571 and the mass slaughter of 32,000 Maronites all over the island, became an Ottoman village. As a matter of fact, many soldiers of the Ottoman army married Maronite women who were widowed and settled in their villages, resulting in the Islamization of the remaining Maronite population.

In the most modern history of the country and until 1960, in the community resided almost exclusively Turkish Cypriots, with a minority of a few Greek Cypriot residents. However, the intercommunal riots that broke out in 1963-64 forced the locals, Christians and Muslims to leave their homes, and since then the village has been deserted and destroyed.

According to tradition, during the Ottoman rule here operated the Greek Orthodox Monastery dedicated to Agios Merkourios. The monastery, like many other monasteries and churches in Cyprus, was destroyed by the Ottomans, and today nothing remains as a reminder of the glory of the place in the past centuries.