International Orthodox Christian News



H.B.Archbishop Chrysostomos I, the former head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus, died on Saturday after a long bout with an undisclosed illness, officials said. He was 80.

Chrysostomos reportedly was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and for several years was unable to carry out his duties on the east Mediterranean island.

In May 2006, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I — the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians — chaired a meeting of church elders that called for Chrysostomos' "honorary removal."

His successor, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, said death had come as "a relief" to Chrysostomos, who had lived his final days in seclusion in his room at the Archbishopric in Nicosia.

"The late Archbishop was a deeply spiritual man and held aloft in difficult and trying times the flame of faith and country," the Archbishop said. "He will live in history and in the minds of all who knew and lived with him, and we will always honor his memory.

Chrysostomos' body will lie in state Sunday and Monday at Saint John's Cathedral, within Archbishopric grounds. A funeral is planned on Monday.

Chrysostomos was elevated to the church's senior position in 1977, when he succeeded Archbishop Makarios, the first post-independence president of Cyprus.

Paphos-born Chrysostomos joined the church as a young monk at the island's famed Kykkos monastery before earning degrees in philosophy and theology from the University of Athens.

After graduate studies in Britain, he worked as a teacher in Cyprus. Chrysostomos was ordained suffragan bishop in 1968 and bishop of Paphos in 1973.

Source


0 Responses to “Former head of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos I, Passed Away”

Post a Comment




Loading...
Home

Enter your email address:

OBL Feeds | FeedBurner

Copyrighted | Holymonk Studios | theorthodoxchurch.info