Filenews 23 May 2025
"We were lenient," the Archdiocese replies about the removal of Tychicos from the Metropolis of Paphos by decision of the Holy Synod. As the president of the Association of Theologians and spokesman of the Archdiocese, Christakis Efstathiou, told us in Filenews, it was preceded by a barrage of complaints and denunciations, even at the diplomatic level, about the former Metropolitan of Paphos.
As Mr. Efstathiou underlined, the protests received by the Primate of the Church of Cyprus were not limited only to the interior. Even the Ecumenical Patriarchate reportedly expressed annoyance, as well as diplomatic circles, at the "actions that jeopardized the prestige and credibility of the Church of Cyprus in relation to the rest of the Christian world."
Mr. Efstathiou clarified that the problems were not only formal or administrative, but related to "serious ecclesiological issues".
However, it was decided to suspend and not to depose, as according to Mr. Efstathiou, any punishment is an act of healing in the Church and according to the Archbishop they followed this path for reasons of leniency.
Bishop Tychikos, said Mr. Efstathiou, should now repudiate the separatist, separatist groups with which he had been involved in order to run the required procedures and take up his new duties.
Regarding the Metropolitan of Morphou and his eventual dismissal, Mr. Efstathiou replied that if issues arise from any hierarch that undermine the prestige of the Church of Cyprus, surely the Holy Synod will not hesitate to proceed.
