The Typicon of St Neophytos the Recluse (1134–post 1214): telling the story and the rules of the daily life of a monastic community near Paphos.

The Typicon of St Neophytos the Recluse (1134–post 1214), harks back to the time of the Crusader conquest of Cyprus. It is a fascinating document telling the story of a monastic community near Paphos, and including the rules of daily life as these were set down the monastery’s founder, St Neophytos the Recluse. A small-size manuscript (16.8 × 12.8 cm), consisting today of 85 folios, the Typicon, carries the saint’s autograph signatures and was completed on 9 May 1214. The original can be found at the University of Edinburgh –a bequest by Scottish collector David Laing (1793–1878) – , carefully restored and digitized with the support of the A. G. Leventis Foundation from 2020 to 2022. In 2024, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and with the Foundation’s support, the Typicon is made accessible, through digital means, at the site of the Monastery itself which, named in honor of its founder, St Neophytos, survives to this day. Through a purpose-built display, which enables visitors to access and explore the digitized version of the manuscript on-site, the digitized original text can now be perused within the very context for which it was created for the first time in over 800 years. Viewers can browse through the Typicon’s 24 chapters, narrating the founder’s early life, regulating the Enkleistra’s relations with its ecclesial and worldly overlords and listing the monastery’s possessions and aspirations. Moreover, the 32 canons set out in Chapter 23, meticulously outline the actual rules by which life in the Enkleistra functioned, offering an insider’s view into the workings of this 13th-century monastic community.

To view a digital copy of the manuscript please click here