Elections for new Paphos bishop ‘inevitable’

It is now “inevitable” that fresh elections will be held to anoint a new Paphos bishop, according to reports on Friday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that “ecclesiastical sources” had said the church’s charter stipulates that elections be held.

“Since the sentences imposed on former bishop Tychikos are in accordance with the current charter and have been adopted by a majority [of the Holy Synod], there is an obligation to hold elections to fill the throne in Paphos,” the sources are quoted as having said.

Changes to the church’s statutes can only be made when all 17 seats on the Holy Synod are filled, and given that there is currently no bishop in Paphos, the elections must be held within the current charter.

Any change would require three quarters – 13 – of the Holy Synod’s members to vote in its favour.

The archbishop plans to change the statute after a new Paphos bishop is elected to ensure that in future, bishops be selected by the Holy Synod rather than selected by churchgoers, even suggesting this could have been applied to replace Tychikos.

The call for elections come with Tychikos remaining physically at the bishopric and demanding that the police come with a warrant if they wish to search the premises, after Archbishop Georgios had said the police would arrive and conduct a search.

Tychikos had said on Thursday that he keeps no personal belongings in either location, and that since he was relieved of his duties in May last year, he has been living elsewhere on the complex and not in the flat allocated to the bishop of the day.

On Thursday afternoon, a small protest was held at the bishopric in support of Tychikos, with around 25 people in attendance.

Demonstrators chanted “Tychikos is worthy”, while one man was heard shouting back, “if he were worthy, he would have left”.

Tychikos was deposed from his role in May last year, with the Holy Synod voting by a ten to six margin to ratify Tychikos’ removal from his official status after he was charged with various breaches of church protocol, including showcasing an icon of a saint not canonised by the church.

Church secretary Georgios Christodoulou said at the time that “the Holy Synod decided that the aforementioned hierarchy shall remain a bishop of the Church of Cyprus and a member of the Holy Synod,” understood to mean he may retain the title, but that he has been relieved of his administrative duties.

The archbishop had previously clashed with Tychikos, notably over the latter’s refusal to allow the relic of Apostle Paul’s skull to be brought from the Vatican City to Cyprus on the principle that the late Pope Francis was “a heretic”.

The day after his dismissal, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos had said his municipality had had to suffer “trying and unbecoming behaviours” on Tychikos’ part for years.

Phedonos said Tychikos had taken the municipality to court “without the courtesy of informing” them, and that he had obstructed all communication between the municipality and the bishopric by locking offices and refusing to answer telephone calls.

The reason given for the stonewalling was a “spiritual retreat”, Phedonos added.

Tychikos had then appealed against his dismissal at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but was unsuccessful in his appeal.