Archimandrita Village

Archimandrita is a village located in the Paphos district, built in a green location and crossed by the rivers of Hapotami and Diarizos.

It is about 14 kilometres from the village of Kouklia , and 6 kilometres from the village of Dora in the Limassol district.

The village of Archimandrita was one of the villages that were marked on the catalogue of the Luzonian – Venetian royal feuds of Mas Latri.

One of the most important aspects of the history of Archimandrita, is the movement of the residents from Kato Archimandrita to Pano Archimandrita.

In particular until 1962, Archimandrita was divided into Pano and Kato. The residents of Kato Archimandrita asked to move the location of where the village is situated in today.

The reasons that lead to this transfer were, the isolation, the absence of a school, and a proper road connecting Pano and Kato Archimandrita as well as water board issues.

Today, there are only a few abandoned houses in Kato Archimandrita and a renovated chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

There are two versions for the name of the village. One comes from Simo Menandro linking the name of the village with the first settler who was an Archimandrite. While the Archimandrite was alive, anyone who visited the village would say they went to the Archimandrite while after his death they would say they visited the Archimandritan.

The other version, mentions that the name was given due to the 318 Holy Fathers, Archimandrites that followed an Archimandrite from Syria, and were killed in the village by pagans.

The population of Archimandrita has decreased during the last few years, even though Pano and Kato parts of the village have joined together. It is worth examining the population course of the villages before and after the movement of the population of Kato Archimandrita. The largest number of residents in Kato Archimandrita was recorded in 1960 with 317 residents, out of which 245 were Greek Cypriots and 72 were Turkish Cypriots. The largest amount of residents in Kato Archimandrita was recorded in 1901 with 85 residents. The village of Kato Archimandrita was slowly abandoned.

Churches

There is one church dedicated to Agio Theodosio and another two chapels that are dedicated to Agious Pateres and Panagia.