Photeine of Cyprus

Saint Photeine of Cyprus, wonderworker, known on Cyprus as Saint Photou, lived at an unknown time, and nothing is known of her early life. Tradition says she was born in Rizokarpaso to simple but pious parents. From a young age Photou stood out from her peers for her kindness, attitude, willingness to serve others and virtue. Her large bright eyes reflected the richness of her heart and spread trust and joy everywhere. She was taught her first letters at the village school and learned to read by memorizing Psalms and hymns of the Church. When she reached marriageable age, she left her home and went to a cave to live a life of asceticism. In that cave she spent the rest of her life: a life of perseverance and prayer, of self-⁠control and complete dedication to Christ the heavenly Bridegroom.

Her relics were buried and then discovered in the cave between 1718 and 1732, with a carved inscription on her reliquary: "Photeini, the Virgin Bride of Christ." Today she continues to offer healing to the sick, sight to the blind and spiritual rest and joy to the afflicted. Her hermitage still exists in the village of Saint Andronikos. One enters through a narrow opening and descends a staircase of twenty-⁠three steps made of local stones; the cave looks like a catacomb. At the bottom there is a spring of holy water, with which the sick wash their limbs to be healed. She is particularly invoked for diseases of the eyes. In the dark years of the Turkish yoke her cave was also used as a church. A piece of her relics is at Kykkos Monastery on Cyprus. She is commemorated on 2 August (new style; 15 August on the old calendar).