Cyprus new Orthodox Church assumed his new duties

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – While Russian clerics were absent, the Cyprus news Orthodox Church assumed his new duties yesterday.

“AP” reported Archbishop Georgios formally assumed his new duties before an audience of clergy from around the world.

The Cyprus Church’s decision to support the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence was said to be the reason for Russian Patriarch Kirill not sending any representatives at the St. Barnabas Cathedral ceremony.

The decision by Cyprus church on supporting the independence of Ukraine churche was in line with the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul.

Conversely, the Ukrainian Church’s Metropolitan Symeon and Archbishop Efstratios were in attendance as Archbishop Georgios, bedecked in crimson and gold-trimmed liturgical vestments, trailed a procession of senior clerics into the cathedral.

Although some pro-Russia bishops dissented against the 2020 decision by the 16-member Holy Synod, the Cyprus Church’s highest decision-making body, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24 consolidated that support.

The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I after he granted independence to Ukraine’s Orthodox church in 2019.

In an interview with the Greek weekly newspaper To Vima, Archbishop Georgios said the Cypriot church’s backing for Bartholomew’s decision flowed out of orthodoxy’s own laws that put the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s primacy over all other Orthodox churches.

But he offered an olive branch to the Russian church, saying he would reach out to Moscow to dispel any notions of enmity and help restore Orthodox unity.

Georgios’ enthronement became official after he signed the Church’s constitution with red ink — a privilege granted to the head of the Cyprus Church by the fifth-century Byzantine Emperor Zeno after he was gifted a gospel found in the tomb of the Cyprus Church’s founder and apostle of Christ, Barnabas.