During the whole duration of the Ottoman Empire, the Christian Churches are constantly raided by the Ottoman occupiers. Nevertheless there were periods of time where the catastrophical rage of these people towards anything Christian was transformed into a real persecution. The destroyed Churches, beheaded priests and burnt religious icons.
In the middle of such an elation, the residents from the village of Pelentri of the district of Limassol, in order to avoid the destruction of the icon of the Virgin, hid it in some unknown place.
Years went by and the icon remained buried under the ground. Then, as in a vision the Virgin gave a command to a woman that just gave birth, to take the icon and to transfer it to the village of Pelentri and she revealed the place where it was hidden.
The young mother, despite the danger her health was in due to recent delivery, as well as the danger to be discovered by the Muslims, went to the point the Virgin showed her and found her icon.
The road was long and uphill and the woman being weary, got tired very quickly because of the weight she was carrying. She sat on the “root” of a rock and asked from the Virgin for some water. At that moment, source of potable water gushed out like a torrent on the point where she was sitting. After the woman drunk water, she thanked the Virgin and continued her way.
From there on, this point where the water gushed out from the rock, the believers built a small chapel and next to it they put a spout from which the water flows constantly to give water to the thirsty believers that come a long way to fill their flasks.
In the very recent years, they built a small Church and dedicated it to Panagia Amiantou, which is found next to the bridge of the river of Kourris, between the villages of Amiantos and Pelentri.
The Church celebrates on the Sunday of Thomas and during this day, the believers from Pelentri take the icon of the Virgin to the small chapel and after the day goes by, the take it back to their village.
In the past they tried to transfer the icon by other means other than by foot but they failed. The only way the transfer should be done is by foot, just like the young mother did a few hundreds of years ago.
