Apostolitžés eliés

According to Xenophon P. Pharmakidis, an uninoculated olive tree is called an apostolic tree. It has been given its name, it seems, because it is unadulterated, just as the (Orthodox) Church is called apostolic, as it adheres to the teaching of the Apostles. It took the name apostolitz̆i therefore, as it is not adulterated by inoculation (Kypri 1983 [2003²], entry αποστολιτζ̆ ή,η, 247).

K. C. Yiangoullis also notes that apostolic or koundoura is a variety of wild, i.e. non inoculated olive tree and therefore non adulterated carob/olive tree in Cyprus (Yiangoullis 2009, entry αποστολικός,ο, 71).

In Cyprus they are found in two areas with this name: in Alona village, Pitsilia area and in the village of Vretsia in Paphos district. Two folk traditions concerning the name are reported, originating from the village of Vretsia in Paphos: "The local tradition says that they grew from olive pits thrown there by the apostles Paul and Varnavas during their first tour of Cyprus in the spring of 45 AD, when they stopped at that place to rest and eat on their way to Paphos. This is of course a later tradition, which tries to link these trees with the two apostles. It should be borne in mind, however, that the term apostolic also meant in Cyprus the Linovamvakous (crypto-Christians), who were perhaps under the influence of the heretical apostles of Western Europe. The latter clashed with the Catholic Church because they supported and followed the vita apostolica, i.e. the pure life of the early Christians. The presence of apostolic olives near Vretsia, the village of Linovamvakous may refer basically to the characteristic of the region (the Linovamvakous), from there it expanded, and remained in the olives" (Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 2, entry αποστολιτζιές ελιές, 254)”.