‘Cyprus.’ [‎69r] (137/184)

POPULATION, INHABITANTS, ETC.
131
There are in Cyprus some Armenians, descendants of refugees Armenians,
who settled here, and these practise their own form of Christianity,
residing chiefly in Nicosia.
The Maronites also have a colony in Cyprus, and are said to Maronite*.
number about 2,800.* They belong to a tribe of people who
inhabit the western slope of Mount Lebanon, and figure in history
as a sect of Christians. By adopting the Monothelitic doctrine
soon after it had been condemned in a.d. 680, by the Council of
Constantinople, they came to be distinguished as a distinct religious
party, and having as their first bishop, a certain monk, John Maro,
they received the name of Maronites. Maro assumed the title of
“Patriarch of Antioch,” he asserted the ecclesiastical indepen
dence of the tribe, and its members defended their freedom against
the Greeks, and afterwards against the Saracens. At length in
1182, they renounced the opinions of the Monothelites, and were
readmitted within the pale of the Romish Church, but are only
united to it by the single tie of the acknowledgment of the
supremacy of the Pope.
The Maronite monks of Cyprus live in monasteries scattered
amongst the mountain regions, and most of the members of the
sect occupy the country near Cape Kormakiti.
St. Andrew is said to be the chief patron saint of the island. Patron sain'a.
and on Palm Sunday and at Easter the usual ceremonies of the
Eastern Church are performed. In the early days of Christianity,
Cyprus became a land of saints, and numerous names stand in the
calendar as belonging to the island, such as Barnabas, Lazarus,
Epiphanes, Hilarion, Spiridion, Catherine, Acona, Maura, &c.
EDUCATION.
%
The education of the people was formerly much neglected under Schoob.
the Turkish administration, but there are now schools at Nicosia,
Larnaca, Limasol, Morpho, and at a few of the large villages.
Herr Yon Lbher remarks that “ until thirty years ago schools were
strictly prohibited, whereas now every town has its training school,
whilst in three of the chief towns, Larnaca, Nicosia, and Limasol,
these are of three grades, and in them are taught history, geo
graphy, and Grecian literature, even to the reading of Homer and
Xenophon. The prices for these classes are from 100 to 300 marks.
Anything over and above this charge is covered by the bishop, and
a toll upon the exports and imports of the towns.”
In the grammar school at Nicosia, ancient Greek, French,
mathematics, history, and geography are taught; this school is
supported partly by the bishops, partly by the aid of subscriptions,
and partly by the payments of the pupils. There are also in
Nicosia two free schools of mutual instruction on the Lancasterian
system, and a school for girls. In Larnaca there is a grammar
* See Mrs. Joyner's translation of Herr Yon Lolier’s work On Cyprus ; Appendix,
page 295.
(774) i 2