Morphou : Cyprus

Morphou (in Greek ΜόÏ?φου, in Turkish Güzelyurt ) is a market town in the west of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
It contains one of the many churches in the country dedicated to St. Mamas, popularly known as the patron saint of tax avoiders. The title was bestowed on him because he was a hermit living in very poor circumstances and when the authorities tried to tax him, he evaded them. Soldiers were sent out and captured him but on the way back to town, he saw a lion attacking a lamb, escaped the soldiers, saved the lamb, jumped on the lion’s back and in that way came to town. His bravery earned him exemption from tax, hence his traditional attribute.
The church is an icon museum now, and the images of St. Mamas on his lion are quite amusing, as no one there at that time had seen a lion, so the iconography is not exactly lifelike, having a human face in some versions.