"Thomas! Thomas!"He
opened the parcel and to their joy they saw
their beloved book! Hadji Georgis said. "Your
Beatitude when you said thos strange words, "Thomas! Thomas!, fear came into my heart. Is it
a curse?" "No my son, The Archbishop said
gently, they are Christ's words when Thomas did
not believe that he had risen from the dead. Go
in peace you have served God faithfully." He
blessed them and sent them on their way
rejoicing. The villagers after some hours of
anxious waiting, stood at the gates to welcome
the Elders and saw Hadji Georgis & Hadji Loukas
holding the book of the Gospels aloft in
triumph.
There were great shouts of joy and
laughter, many wept in relief , tears of joy.
The next day when a service of thanksgiving was
held in the church of St Luke the Evangelist the
rain came and continued for many days, and the
land was green again, the animals watered and
the harvest saved. The villagers remembered the
Archbishops advise and the Holy Book was never
again moved from its case except once a year on
St Luke's day, October 18th when the priest
stood holding the book in the centre of the nave
and the people reverently kissed the open page
of St Luke's Gospel."
There have been many attempts to discover the
origin of the book of the Gospels. The people of
the village were convinced that it was written
by St Luke himself. The church had for
generations owned several pieces of land and a
herd of two hundred goats; the manuscript is on
kidskin; St Luke had his materials ready to hand
such simple reasoning is naturally rejected by
experts.
At one time archaeologists from Nicosia came to
try to persuade the villagers to allow them to
keep The Holy Book for careful study in their
museum with the aid of modern technology
equipment and offered to build a beautiful new
church in exchange but the villagers to a man
refused this proposal.
The book attracted the attention of experts from
many countries but none traced its source. All
however agree that it was compiled sometime
between the 10th century & the 12th century.
They also agree from the quality of the
workmanship that it must have been written in a
monastery. One theory is that with the costal
villages near, not then in ruins, it may have
been brought by sea, possibly from Byzantium
where the art of dressing skins was well
developed. The villagers may have given kidskins
& lambskins to Byzantine traders in exchange for
dressed skins that they needed for the book of
Gospels.
It is interesting to note that the ancient name
for Eptakomi was Ynaftokomi, (the place of the
Fullers). There is one curious note in Greek
carelessly written across the top corner of a
page and in completely different hand. The date
14th February 1974 with words difficult to
decipher. |