During the period of iconoclasm, many monasteries and churches were established in the Troodos Mountains. This is due to the fact that it was in the mountains that it was very easy to hide from persecution and persecution. There the monks often hid the most valuable icons.
This is how the history of the highest altitude Orthodox monastery of Cyprus began, which bears the name of Trootidissa. It is located near the Cedar Valley Nature Reserve. It is believed that a monk, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved, brought the icon of the Mother of God Trooditissa to Cyprus from Asia Minor. The ascetic settled in a small cave near where the monastery now stands. After his death, the icon was miraculously discovered in his hermitage - a local shepherd noticed some glow on the mountain and, taking his companions with him, decided to check what this strange light was. People went up the mountain and in the cave saw the miraculous icon, and decided to build a temple on that place. But legend has it that every time the peasants started to build a church, the building collapsed. One night one of them dreamed of an angel who pointed out a new place for the temple. It was there that it was built, and the icon they found was moved there. And later a monastery appeared next to it.
The first mentions of the church in written sources date back only to the XIV century. At the end of the XVI century it completely burned down. Only the icon of the Mother of God survived. As for the modern church and monastery buildings, they were built in the period from XVIII to XX centuries.
Thus, a new church appeared in 1731, then a school was built at the same time. Thanks to the patronage of wealthy citizens, it acquired rich utensils and a new gilded iconostasis. In 1999 the walls of the church were repainted by the best artists of Cyprus.
This place is quite popular both among ordinary tourists and pilgrims - often childless couples come to pray to the famous miraculous icon of Trootidissa to ask the Mother of God for a baby. The monastery also houses another relic, the "belt of the Virgin Mary", which is also believed to help those who dream of having a child.
