Church of Panagia Chryseleousa
Feast day: September 8
The church was built when the smaller church, which was also dedicated to the Mother of God, could no longer meet the needs of the growing community of Athiainou. It is located at a very short distance, just metres away, from the older church. The foundation stone was laid in 1947 by Ioakeim, Metropolitan of Derkoi and Adamantios, Metropolitan of Sardes, who have visited Cyprus as observers representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate during the process of election of Archbishop of Cyprus. The church was completed in 1959 and was renovated in 1994. The cross-shaped church with a dome is built from local stone. The west entrance has an open-arched portico with arches supported by double columns. The openings above the entrances, the arched windows of the drum of the dome, as well as the rest of the windows are covered by marble window screens with cross-shaped apertures.
On either side of the main entrance of the church are niches with mosaic full-length depictions of the Virgin and Child (left) and Christ (right). Initially, these niches were used to place the icons for worshipping them during the litanies. The church’s marble iconostasis with the mosaic decoration and coloured columns, was installed in 1967. The church was inaugurated on the 1st of October 1972 by the Archbishop of Cyprus Makarios III. The walls of the church are decorated with frescoes painted by monk Kallinikos Stavrovouniotis (from Athiainou) and his successors, the brothers Michael and Gabriel Morosan from Romania. It was completed in 2012. The church also owns icons painted by monk Kallinikos Stavrovouniotis. The feast day of the church is on the 8th of September (Nativity of the Virgin).