Archbishop Georgios has given former Bishop of Paphos Tychikos 10 days to meet him before the Holy Synod reconvenes to consider his case, saying the Church of Cyprus cannot allow the dispute to drag on indefinitely.
Speaking on Sunday after a concelebrated liturgy and memorial service for the late Archbishop Chrysostomos II in his home village of Tala, Georgios said he was waiting for Tychikos to follow through on his request for a meeting.
The Archbishop said even a bishop suspended from his duties must answer to the Holy Synod and cannot travel freely around Cyprus and Greece without being accountable to anyone.
He said Tychikos would be given a reasonable period of 10 days, after which the Holy Synod would meet to discuss his case. The matter had not been discussed at the Synod’s previous meeting because Tychikos had first requested a personal meeting with the Archbishop.
According to Georgios, Tychikos sent a letter through representatives shortly before the Holy Synod meeting asking to see him. The Archbishop accepted the request in the hope of resolving the dispute, but said Tychikos appeared unwilling to attend once his office communicated the response.
Asked what would happen if Tychikos continued to delay matters after the next Synod meeting, Georgios said any final decision would be taken collectively by the Holy Synod, rather than by him alone.
He said Tychikos must first renounce views he appeared to hold about the Ecumenical Patriarch being heretical, address his rejection of the Great Council of Crete and deal with allegations of financial irregularities at the Metropolis of Paphos.
The Archbishop reiterated that Tychikos would have a place at the Holy Archbishopric if he met those conditions.
Archbishop dismisses prospect of rival church in Cyprus
Georgios also addressed a letter sent to priests concerning the position they should take towards the Church of Cyprus, dismissing the possibility of establishing a separate church on the island.
He contrasted the situation in Cyprus with parts of Africa, where he claimed rival religious groups could establish churches in makeshift buildings and pay priests to move between different denominations or schismatic churches.
The Archbishop said such practices would not take root in Cyprus because the Church belonged to the people and its priests understood the seriousness of their responsibilities.
He also rejected reports of religious sacraments being performed in private homes, arguing that the ceremonies had no religious validity.
Comparing those conducting the ceremonies to a child imitating the words of a priest, Georgios said a defrocked clergyman who had been deprived of God’s grace could not administer valid sacraments.
He warned the small number of people attending such services that they were not participating in genuine sacraments and were instead placing a further spiritual burden on themselves.
The Archbishop identified the man reportedly conducting the ceremonies in private homes as a Romanian former priest who had been defrocked and had previously belonged to the Antiochian Church in Great Britain.
