A casket with the relics of saints originally from St Mamas church in Morphou will be returned to its rightful owner, the Bishopric of Morphou, on May 14 a German auction house announced.
The official of the reliquary to the representative of Bishop Neophytos of Morphou, the Archimandrite Fotios Ioakeim, will take place at the Hargesheimer auction house in Düsseldorf, in the presence of Byzantine art expert Maria Paphiti, embassy of Cyprus officials in Germany and the department of antiquities.
The little box, shaped like a book and supposedly containing the relics of St Mamas and other saints, had been scheduled for auction on April 12 in Duesseldorf by Hargesheimer Kunstauktionen GmbH.
The auction house announced that the item attracted international interest and numerous bidders, but due to the intervention of the internationally renowned specialist Paphiti, it was withdrawn shortly before it was about to be auctioned – in fact during the process of the auction.
Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the subsequent occupation of the island’s northern third, the casket, like many other art treasures and cultural artefacts, were stolen and traded abroad.
The heiress of a deceased icon collector from northern Germany who consigned the object to the auction had been unable to trace its journey to Germany or its prior history due to the lack of documents.
Management of the auction house, Susanne and Frank Hargesheimer, decided to purchase the holy relic from the consignor in order to donate it as a gift to the rightful owner.
The casket has the form of a leather-bound book. The lid opens to reveal in the centre St Mamas riding a lion, surrounded by four saints. The box is believed to contain relics of the portrayed figures, as well as of other saints.
In the late Middle Ages, St Mamas was greatly venerated, especially in Cyprus. Legend has it that the saint’s coffin floated to Cyprus after his parents released it in to the sea. In the following years Mamas was turned into a Cypriot: he lived on the island as a hermit.
According to another legend, he was arrested for non-payment of a poll tax. When he arrived at the governor’s palace, riding a lion and holding a lamb on his lap, he was assured lifelong tax exemption.
He is therefore considered the patron saint of tax advisors, as well as tax officials, taxpayers and tax evaders. (source CNA)
