St Nicholas of the Cats
A very unusual monastery with some very unusual protectors.
310-330
Roman Empire (Byzantine Era) 330 - 1453
A very unusual monastery with some very unusual protectors.
310-330
Roman Empire (Byzantine Era) 330 - 1453
When the Empress Helen founded the monastery of St Nicholas in the 4th century, she had no idea that this pleasant corner of Cyprus was plagued by venomous snakes.
THE monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats was founded on Cyprus by St Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, in the 4th century.
But the site on the Akrotiri peninsula was infested with venomous snakes, so much so that the local residents began to leave.
In a bold move, the island’s governor imported hundreds of cats from Egypt and the Holy Land, and for over a thousand years their scarred but indomitable descendants kept the snakes at bay.
When monks rang a little bell, the cats would come home for a meal. When it rang again, off they went to hunt snakes once more.
But when the Turks invaded in the late 16th century, they massacred the indigenous people of Cyprus, including the harmless monks, and the cats lost their home.
The cats were scattered, but the snakes remained; and when the monastery was rebuilt in 1983, the new community of nuns gathered a platoon of the fearsome little snake-hunters once again.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What prompted the Governor of Cyprus to import cats to his island?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Helen founded a monastery on Cyprus. The site was infested with snakes.