ERIMI'S HOLY CHURCH OF "TIMIOS PRODROMOS"

At about the centre of our community the "Naos tou Prodromou" (Church of the Precursor), as our fellow villagers usually call it, magnificently rises amidst a vivid green.

The inhabitants' love for the Baptist and Precursor of the Lord, and also the relationship they had -according to oral tradition -with the "Timios Prodromos" Monastery in Mesa Potamos, justifies dedicating the church in His Honour.

Always according to oral traditions coming from many of the elderly inhabitants and -also -a study of the church architecture, we gather the information that the Church started being built between the years 1875-1880 and was completed around 1895-1900. The steeple and the stone-made icon-stand are later additions and bear engraved the date 1918.

The church is of the Single-Aisle Basilica style of church architecture, common in the Cypriot architecture of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The Provinces of Cyprus is ridden with examples of that style. ("Apostolos Loukas" -- Kolossi, "Agia Paraskevi" -- Episkopi, "Agia Paraskevi" -- Germasogeia, "Agios Minas" -- Agios Athanasios, etc.)

Brickwork
The combination of two brickwork types is of special interest. External pessaries that open up into arches, made with hewed stone and excellent decoration by geometric sequences so as to lighten the weight of the walls' mass. However, that which draws the attention of the visitor is the church's South Central entrance, which stands out due to its height and vivid decoration in a majestic manner. The Central Entrance's transom is a beautiful composition of embossed representations consisting of flowers, branches, geometric lines, and a dove at the top of the transom's Triangle.

The Church's steeple, of which the embossed decorations, the capitals, the arched openings, and generally its whole structure lightens the stone's mass and lends to it a particular elegance, causes a sensation.

In the Church's interior, the Stone-made Altar and the Ciborium that covers it strongly draw one's attention. Four round columns, which have four embossed capitals of excellent craftsmanship, support it. We come across the same studiousness in the "Holy Prothesis" (Table of Preparation). It is also made of hewed stone.

However, the wooden Icon Screen, which bears the date 1903, is undoubtedly where the Pilgrim's attention is focused. It bears three rows of icons. The "Despotica" (Despotic, Bishopric) Icons with another six "Proskinimatikes" (meaning "for adoration') ones are in the 1st row, the series of the "Dodekaorton" (Annunciation, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple, Baptism, Transfiguration, Raising of Lazarus, Entry into Jerusalem, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Koimesis) are in the 2nd row, and the Great "Deisi' (prayer, rogation) -having in its centre Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Holy Baptist, interlaced with the icons of the Twelve Apostles -are in the 3rd row. The Icon Screen is a work of Georgios Hadjichristodoulou from Agia Varvara. In many places it is perforated with deep and intense carving and the representations are inspired by symbolic Theology and also by the natural environment. So that way one can observe Angels, the "Ambelos" (Vine), the "dikis ofthalmon"(eye of trial) and the "evikoon ous" (favoring ear), birds, branches, vases with flowers, lions, etc. The royal Gate closes with Bema Doors that result in dragons and -on the flat sides -the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary is depicted in renaissance style.

At the top of the Icon Screen there is a huge "Christ on the Cross" with its "lipitera" (mournful signs) and the symbols of the Lord's Passions. The "Despotica" Icons were made in 1905, the work of "the Mount Athos's monks and painters Monk Kyrillos and the priest-monk Nefonos".

In the Church's West part there is a woodcut icon-stand carrying the Church's Household Icon, that is the "decapitation of John the Baptist".

At the north wall and as an extension of the Icon Screen, there is a special icon-stand with the Baptist's sculptured, silver-gilt Icon, which is covered by the offerings of those that the Saint cured / benefited.

After the last earthquake the Church had to be reinforced with tractors, structural "injections", and be put together anew. A new floor with marble-made decor was placed, as also was a mosaic, two-headed eagle, the pieces of which were made of stones from Cyprus. This is the work of Georgios Tapakkoudes from Pafos. Another two mosaics can be found, one in the semicircle above the Main Entrance with the Virgin Mary delineated as "the land of the Uncontainable", and the other in the stone-made icon-stand with the Baptist in full figure.

The Church celebrates on the 29th of August, the day of the Baptist's Decapitation; however, special celebrations take place on all of the Saint's days, that is on the day of his Birth (June 24th), his Arrest (September 23rd) his "Synaxis" ("gathering", January 7th), the 1st and 2nd finding of the Saint's Holy Skull (February 24th), and the 3rd Finding of the Saint's Holy Skull (May 25th).