Bryene

Venerable Bryene (Vryaini, Vryoni, in Greek sources Bryaine) is known in Cyprus only through her small chapel in the village of Mandria, in the Paphos district, the only one in the world dedicated to this saint. The synaxarion says little about her life: she may have been the mother of Venerable Phantinus the Wonderworker of Thessalonica, with whom the calendar commemorates her on the same day, and she fell asleep in peace. Her hymns speak of an abbess, spiritually born of the deaconess Platonis, who brought many virgin souls to Christ, among them Venerable Martyr Febronia.

Until 1963 and 1964 Mandria was a mixed village of Greeks and Turks; after the clashes between the communities the Greeks left it, and in 1974 the Turks left in their turn for the occupied areas, and the village was settled by Greek refugees from the north. The village church, dedicated to Saints Andronicus and Athanasia, has been rebuilt, while the five chapels, among them that of Saint Bryene, had been destroyed. The only one remaining is that of Saint Bryene, rebuilt by a refugee family from Assia after certain visions. The chapel was attacked three times by the Turkish inhabitants of the village. In 1975 a woman from Assia, Mrs Stavroula, dreamed of a woman clad in black who showed her a spot near the sea and told her that a chapel lay there. The next day she dug and found the foundations of the old chapel. In 1986 the new chapel was consecrated, built high on a hill above a cave, south of the village.

One legend tells that a ship off the coast of Cyprus was struck by a violent storm; the captain tried to reach shore, but the wind drove the ship to Mandria. The sailors, in danger of breaking on the rocks, prayed before the icon of Saint Bryene that was on board and promised that if they were saved they would build a church in her honour. The storm subsided, and the captain built a small chapel by the sea. The saint is considered very miraculous, and the number of pilgrims grows from year to year. Her feast on 30 August is marked with a festival to which believers come from all the region, and during the rest of the year they come daily to light a candle. She is commemorated on 30 August in the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).