It's not as glitzy as other churches, with a plain, small interior holding an iconostasis with some lovely icons from the late 19th century. But the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas, sitting facing the sea near the tip of the Karpas, remains one the island's most important religious sites. On 15 August and 30 November, coachloads of Greek Cypriots make the long trek out here on pilgrimage to visit this monastery where miracles are reputed to take place.
The monastery’s reputation for miracles was obtained during the time of St Andrew (the patron saint of sailors), who reputedly restored the sight of a ship’s captain when he arrived from Palestine. Since then, attested-to miracles range from curing blindness and epilepsy to healing the crippled and granting extraordinary wishes.
Before 1974 the monastery was well supported by its devotees and pilgrims but since then – isolated from its patrons and with only a few Greek Cypriot caretakers – the great monastery has had a slow and steady deterioration. Turkish Cypriot authorities began to allow a small number of pilgrims to enter the North on organised visits to the monastery from 1996. Today, with the crossings opened, the pilgrimage is far simpler and the faithful can visit this site of holy miracles unescorted. A long overdue restoration project on the monastery buildings, carried out by the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, began in 2013. Although work is still ongoing on peripheral buildings, the main monastery church restoration was finished in 2016 and the church has been reopened to the public.
