“They Understood that in that Place the Saint Wanted To Be Buried”: Mapping the Final Days of Patriarch Saint Gennadios I in the Cypriot Landscape

In the encomium to Patriarch Gennadios I of Constantinople, preserved in cod. Par. gr. 1189 (ff. 230v–235v), Saint Neophytos the Recluse of Cyprus offers details about the Patriarch’s life that are otherwise unattested in surviving sources. According to Neophytos, Gennadios abdicated the Patriarchal throne in his final years and traveled in secret to Cyprus. There, following an unfortunate incident in the mountains of Paphos, he died. The local population recognized his sanctity only after a series of miraculous events, and subsequently buried him at the site of his death, where a church was later erected in his honor. Despite this tradition, the exact location of Gennadios’s death and burial remains unidentified. While local communities commemorate Saint Gennadios annually on November 17 at a remote site near Paphos, no scholarly effort has yet been made to correlate the geographical references in Neophytos’s encomium with specific locations on the Cypriot landscape. This paper aims to trace the final journey of Patriarch Gennadios using a multidisciplinary approach that includes archaeological, literary, and oral sources. Drawing on Byzantine hagiographical conventions, local toponyms, and ecclesiastical memory, the study reevaluates the historical credibility of the text while engaging with living traditions. It will present findings from in situ research at probable locations mentioned in the encomium, supported by photographic documentation and additional material in a PowerPoint presentation. Ultimately, this research hopes to contribute to the historical and spiritual mapping of Cyprus’s sacred geography.