The Church of St. Paraskevi, Kitiros, Crete
Creators: name: Enriquez, Nicolyna
Publisher: name: Database of Religious History (DRH)
Year: 2023

description: The Church of St. Paraskevi is a single nave chapel covered with a pointed barrel vault and a saddle roof on the exterior. A small cemetery surrounds the western end of the church now enclosed by a modern fence. Located just east of the small village of Kitiros in the southwest corner of Crete, the church sits on a high outcrop overlooking the small river Pelekaniotikos which runs down to the coastal town of Palaiochora, roughly 15km away by foot. The dedicatory inscription of the church, partially preserved along the southwest wall above the image of the Archangel Michael, indicates that the church was built and painted with the contribution and efforts of the Christians of the district (τούρμα) of Kitiros, which includes the various small villages in the surrounding area including Chasi, Sklavopoula, and the metochi of Moustaki in the year 6881, Indiction 15 (1372-73). Inside the church, a transverse arch divides the interior into two bays with the sanctuary separated today by a wooden iconostasis. The wall paintings, although damaged in places, are in good condition. The conch of the sanctuary shows the Virgin Blachernitissa above four coOfficiating Bishops flanked on either side by St. Stephen and St. Romanus the Melodist. The lower register of both the north and south walls of the sanctuary are decorated with ten frontal saints including the monk St. John Kalybites, St. Simeon Stylites and St. Anthony. The barrel vault is decorated with the Ascension of Christ to the east and, to the west, four compartments showing the Anastasis, the Empty Sepulchre, the Incredulity of Thomas, and Christ Appearing to the Two Marys. The raised transverse arch in the center of the church is decorated with the prophets David and Jeremiah to the north and Solomon and Isaiah to the south. The images of St. Peter and St. Paul face one another along the lower register of the archway. On the southern wall, a large Deesis, showing Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, is followed by the images of St. Kyriaki and St. Marina. The northern wall similarly shows St. Paraksevi, presented frontally under an archway decorated with palm fronds, followed by the images of St. George on horseback and St. Mamas. Scenes from the life of St. Paraskevi, the titular saint, along with images from the Christological Cycle decorate the barrel vault. To the right of the entrance, below a large image of the Crucifixion, are scenes of Hell and the damned including images of The Farmer who Ploughs and Reaps over the Boundary Line, the Thieving Tailor, The Miller Who Cheats at the Scales, and the Livestock Thief and Robber (shown with an ass on his back and a goat hanging from his neck). The larger agricultural concerns of the communities who sponsored this church can be seen in the choice of Individual Sinners. The inclusion of both St. Mamas and St. George, important saints for both shepherds and farmers alike, shows the need to protect livestock from illness and theft. Additionally, the two female sinners, one punished for not nursing her child and the other for sexual license, demonstrates both the anxiety concerning the wellbeing of children and the larger social and moral boundaries set within these communities. Although the Church of St. Paraskevi is most famous for its image of the Individual Sinners, the extensive cycle of the Life of St. Paraskevi is also important for the iconographic diversions from what is seen in other preserved cycles of the saint.