“Ruin is a gift”
This morning, the Tennessee group woke up to meet at 7 AM to drive to Famagusta (on the northern side of the island). Our first stop in Famagusta took us to St. Barnabas’ museum (used to be a church). I never knew Cyprus was so influenced by characters in the Bible – Lazarus & Barnabas, both individuals I have grown up learning about. It was so interesting seeing where St. Barnabas is buried.
After we had a little bit of free to explore the church, we got back on the bus to make our way further into the Turkish side of the island. Here, we stopped in an amphitheater and saw the statue of the Turkish founder.
The amphitheater had two statues on either side of the stage (beheaded, of course. The Muslims do not have statues with faces on them), one goddess of comedy and the other of tragedy, for the plays done in the amphitheater so long ago.
We also visited the most gorgeous Turkish Mosque, what used to be St. Christopher’s Cathedral. Not as beautiful as Muhammed’s wet nurse’s but, almost. The Muslims, without offending anyone, have sort of destroyed the outside of the used to be cathedral. Mostly because the Greeks put statues and other items on the stone and the Muslims took them down. The (now) mosque is absolutely gorgeous and has its own charming feel to it, despite the ruins on the stone.
My main point of focus is the ruins on the Turkish side. By the amphitheater, there was an earthquake that happened a long time ago, I apologize for not having a point of reference. I’m not sure exactly what was there before but the ruins from the earthquake are beautiful. They’re historical and so charming to look at and fun to climb on top of.
There’s one area in Famagusta we were not allowed to take pictures in. It’s called the “ghost town” and it’s another set of ruins in the city. It’s where a lot of tourist attractions were before the invasion. As I’ve mentioned and told several times in my previous blogs, Turkey invaded Cyprus nearly 40 years ago. The Turks now reside in almost 30% of the island. When they invaded the Cypriots, thousands of families were left without homes and forced to abandon their careers and businesses. Empathizing with both sides, the Turks also had a hard time having to start from scratch with getting running water on their side of the island and getting tourists to come and help their struggling economy. The Turks blocked off the buildings known as the “ghost town”; the Cypriots and Turks never agreed on who owned that piece of land. It’s still not settled today, all of the buildings are in ruins, it’s a bit eerie to look in the ghost town and think the Cypriots who used to have booming businesses in that area, now left in ruins.
Always looking at the better side of things, Elizabeth Gilbert said, “Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.” The invasion on the Cypriots transformed their lives in more ways than I will ever realize. I don’t think anyone knows what God’s plan is/was when the Turks invaded Cyprus. The Cypriots will have something good come out of their loss, even if they can’t see it right now; our lives will have blessings and difficulties because one without the other is neither. Our lives and/or families can occasionally be in ruins but it’s up to us how we react and what we do with what we are given. So, ruin IS a gift – it leads us to transformation and changes our lives accordingly.