Holy Bishopric of Morphou: The patronal inscription, Church of the Holy Virgin in Moutoullas

In a different frame above the depiction of the founders, there is another inscription on seven lines with black, capital letters. In spite of the damages of the first line, its reading does not cause difficulties: '' This holy and venerable church of Our Holy Virgin was built with the contribution and great desire of Ioannes Gerakiotes and his wife Irene in the thirtieth day of July of the year 6788''. This corresponds to the thirtieth July 1280. The surname of the founder Ioannes creates actually a problem. Initially was written as Gerakiotes . The last four letters of the surname ''Gerakiotes'' are half-erased and in their place can be recognized with some difficulty the last letters of the surname ''Moutoullas''. According to both inscriptions of the church, the founder Ioannes is presented with two different surnames: as Gerakiotes and as Moutoullas. It is probably the same person. According to some scholars, the surname Gerakiotes refers to his provenance from the village of Gerakies, while Moutoullas was his actual surname, which later remained also as the name of the homonymous village.