Holy Mother of God Cathedral

About

Holy Mother of God Cathedral (Armenian: Սուրբ Աստուածածին Մայր Եկեղեցի), or Sourp Asdvadzadzin cathedral, is the Armenian Apostolic cathedral of the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus, located in Strovolos, Nicosia, capital of Cyprus. Following the 1963-1964 inter-communal troubles, the Armenian-Cypriot community of Nicosia lost its mediaeval cathedral Notre Dame de Tyre in now Turkish-occupied Nicosia. As a result, Archbishop Makarios III granted them use of the old Ayios Dhometios chapel in Ayios Dhometios.

With the help of the World Council of Churches, the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, the Cyprus government and the faithful, a new cathedral was built in Strovolos, also called "Sourp Asdvadzadzin" (Holy Mother of God). Its foundation stone was laid on 25 September 1976 by Archbishop Makarios III and Bishop Nerses Pakhdigian. It was officially inaugurated on 21 and 22 November 1981 by Catholicos of Cilicia Khoren I Paroian and Co-adjutor Catholicos Karekin II Sarkissian, in the presence of Archbishop Chrysostomos I, Prelate Zareh Aznavorian and Representative Dr.

Antranik L. Ashdjian. It is the only church in Cyprus built in a traditional Armenian style, with a central octagonal dome...