Looted Reliquary of St. Mamas in Morphou

​Christ is risen!
I’m really proud of this story. My friend Maria Paphiti is accomplishing great undertakings close to our own hearts, the repatriation of stolen sacred ecclesiastic artifacts and our cultural inheritance.

​The looted reliquary from the church of St. Mamas in Morphou, the sale of which was halted on 12 April 2019, was handed over today May 14th, by Susanne Hargesheimer to the Archimandrite Fotios of the Metropolis of Morphou earlier today in Düsseldorf.

​But that’s not all Maria has done, or is doing.

For a number of years she successfully headed the international department of Icons at Christie’s Auctioneers. In addition to her professional activity, she contributed to the repatriation of several artworks looted from Cyprus after the Turkish invasion of 1974. In 2007 she assisted in recovering six important icons from the Metropolis of Morphou. 

Subsequently she discovered a pair of unique icons stolen from Trikomo. In 2016 she repatriated the most precious artifact missing from Cyprus: the 6th century mosaic of Apostle Andrew from the Church of Panagia Kanakaria. ​

For her work she was honored with the gold medal of the Order of St. Paul, which is the highest order granted by the Autocephalous Church of Cyprus. Since 2011 she is an honorary academician of the International Academy of Culture and Art of Russia.
We pray for her success and remind you of the ongoing struggle for the return of stolen objects and the Archon Manuscript Appeal as featured on leading websites SupportReligiousFreedom.com 

Thanks for your continued support and feedback its encouraging and helps me gage: direction, and tenor.

Truly He is risen!
Archon Elias