Hundreds of pilgrims gather in Mandria at the world’s only church dedicated to Saint Vriena

Hundreds of believers from across Cyprus came on 30 August to the village of Mandria (Mandria) near Paphos for the festive liturgy at the chapel of Saint Vriena — the only church in the Christian world dedicated to this saint. Neither the small church nor the area around it could accommodate everyone.

On the previous evening, 29 August, vespers were held here, also attracting a large crowd. The chapel stands on a hill away from the village, not far from the sea. In recent years, people have been coming here not only for the feast day: believers visit daily, venerate the saint’s icon and leave votive offerings.

Vriena, also known in Cyprus as Vrioni, is venerated as a local saint, and there is no other church dedicated to her anywhere. According to church tradition, she was the mother of Saint Fantinus, whose feast day falls on the same date, 30 August. Fantinus himself came from Calabria and died in Thessaloniki in 974, while almost no reliable information about his mother’s life has survived.

Tradition links the appearance of the first church to a ship’s crew. The vessel was caught in a storm off the coast of Timi and Mandria, and an icon of Saint Vriena was on board. The captain and sailors made a vow: if they survived, they would come ashore at that spot and build a church.

Vriena’s chapel was one of five in the village — nearby stood churches dedicated to Eliodor, Evresios, Evlogios and Avgona. After the intercommunal clashes of 1963–1964, Greek Cypriots left Mandria, and it became a Turkish Cypriot enclave: according to the 1960 census, Turkish Cypriots made up the majority of its approximately 400 residents. All five chapels were abandoned, and by the mid-1970s not even recognisable ruins of Vriena’s church remained.

In 1975, a woman who had settled here after the war dreamed of the saint, who asked her to rebuild “her house” and later pointed out the exact location. Together with the priest, local residents found the remains of the old masonry, and the church was rebuilt by a refugee family with the help of dozens of people. The community considers the same date, 30 August, to be the day of the first dream: since then, the feast has been celebrated every year, and the number of visitors continues to grow.