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Church of Cyprus
Cypriot Orthodox Church
Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus

The Cyprian Church was recognized as autocephalous as early as the Council of Ephesus in A.d. 431. In recent times it has occasionally been subject to the influence of other Patriarchates, but formerly its autocephaly had always been recognized. At its head stands the Archbishop, who bears the title of 'the Most Blessed the Archbishop of Justiniana Nova and of all Cyprus,' and lived at Nicosia. His suffragans are the bishops (Metropolitans) of Paphos, Citium, and Cyrenia. The Archbishop and the Bishops made up the Synod which administered the Church of Cyprus. In the election of the Archbishop the lower clergy and the people have their part. In April 1911 the Orthodox in the island amounted to 182,737 ; and there were 607 churches and 79 monasteries. At Larnaca there has been a seminary since 1910, and a journal is published,

The position of the Church of Cyprus, in relation to the Eastern Orthodox Church in general, is a peculiar one. It confesses the Faith according to the distinctive form in which it is received and taught in all the Orthodox Churches, and its rites and ceremonies are all of the Eastern Orthodox type. Its monasteries are constituted on the model common to all Greek monasteries. But it is an independent Church. It may accept, but is not constrained to follow, the recommendations of the Church of Constantinople, the metropolis of Greek Orthodoxy. The Archbishop of Cyprus is not subordinate to any patriarchal authority. It may indeed be said of him that he is a patriarch in all but the name, for the other bishops of Cyprus, who acknowledge him as their Primate, are Metropolitans.

This independence was recognized, not granted, by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the recognition being elicited by an appeal of the bishops and clergy of the island against the attempts of John, Bishop of Antioch, to establish his jurisdiction over them. The formal recognition of the apostolicity and independence of the Cyprian Church was made in the eighth Canon of the Council, but the question had still to await its final settlement. In 485, the aggressions of the Bishop of Antioch provoked another appeal on the part of the Cypriotes. On this occasion the appeal was made to the Emperor Zeno, at Constantinople. Anthemius, Bishop of Constantia (Salamis), went in person to Constantinople, taking with him the news of the miraculous recovery of the body of St. Barnabas, and a manuscript copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, which had been found in the Apostle's tomb. The manuscript Gospel, which was believed to be in St. Barnabas's own handwriting, was presented to the Emperor, who deposited it in one of the churches attached to the imperial palace. Anthemius's appeal was referred to Acacius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the bishops of his synod, who gave decision in accordance with the eighth of the Ephesine Canons. Too much importance, it would seem, was attached to the discovery of the alleged body of St. Barnabas in a cavern near Salamis, as evidence of the justice of the Cyprian claims. No relics were needed to convince the Fathers assembled in council at Ephesus.

The decision of Acacius and his Synod was enforced by Zeno in an edict, which forbade the Bishop of Antioch, or any other prelate, to interfere with the autonomy of the Church of Cyprus, and recognized the Bishop of Constantia (Salamis), as Metropolitan of the whole island, under the title of ' Archbishop of all Cyprus.' This imperial edict, then, was a confirmation of the status quo ante for the Bishop of Constantia, as bishop of the principal city in Cyprus, must have held a very conspicuous primacy among his equals. The inhospitable treatment meted out by Isaac Comnenus, who had usurped the government of the island, to Berengaria of Navarre and her escort, and others of Richard Cceur-deLion's following who had been driven by stress of weather to seek refuge on the shores of Cyprus, brought about the invasion and conquest by the English king in the month of May, 1191. Having made Isaac Comnenus prisoner, and reduced all the fortresses, Richard continued his journey to the Holy Land, leaving garrisons at Nicosia, the capital, and other important points. He found, however, that the retention ot the island demanded more troops than he could spare, and was fain to sell his conquest to the Templars for 100,000 byzants. But the Templars returned their purchase, after a brief and much disturbed occupation. Richard then handed Cyprus over to Guy de Lusignan, the discrowned king of Jerusalem. Guy had lost his kingdom in the fatal battle of Kurn-Hittin (1187), and his title had been taken away by the voices of the princes and barons in the Holy Land, who transferred it in 1192 to Henri de Champagne, Richard's nephew. To compensate Guy, Richard found him a new domain in Cyprus. The terms of this transfer have not been ascertained beyond dispute, and it must remain doubtful whether, as Vinisauf reports, Richard bestowed Cyprus upon Guy as a free gift.

Guy de Lusignan took possession of Cyprus in 1193. He contented himself with the title of Seigneur. The more august title of King was first assumed by his brother and successor, Amaury, who took oath of allegiance to the Emperor Henry VI, and was crowned king by Archbishop Conrad of Hildesheim in 1196.

Guy de Lusignan had no time to give to affairs ecclesiastical. But his successor, Amaury (1194-1205), set matters en train for the introduction and establishment of a Latin hierarchy. After some delay, caused by the Pope's demand for endowments for the bishoprics, the Archdeacons of Lydda and Laodicea were commissioned by Celestine III. to organize the Latin Church in the island (February, 1196). Cyprus thus became a province of the Papacy, having four dioceses, the sees of which were fixed at Nicosia, Paphos, Limassol, and Famagusta. Nicosia was made the metropolis.

The situation in Cyprus laid before the Patriarch and Synod of Constantinople represented the Cypriotes as in such complete subjection to the Latin ecclesiastical authority that they were considered to be tainted with the errors of the Western Church, partakers of its sins, and alienated from the true Orthodox communion. They had to wait for the coming of the Turks before they were able to regain their position in Orthodox Christendom.

The end of the Latin tyranny came in 1570, when Selim II., emulous of the fame of his conquering predecessor, Solyman the Magnificent, and provoked by the reports of the depredations committed by pirates whom the Venetians allowed to find shelter in Cyprian harbours, despatched a mighty armada to the conquest of the island, which was ill-prepared to resist an invasion.

The appearance of the Moslem invader was welcomed by the Orthodox as the signal for their deliverance from the Latin yoke. After the Turkish conquest the Orthodox of Cyprus obtained the consecration (1572) of four bishops in Constantinople for succession to the four sees between which the island territory was divided. The Greek Primate now recovered his title of Archbishop and transferred his residence from Solia to Nicosia.

From 1572 to 1839 the nomination of the Archbishop, and other bishops, was virtually in the hands of the Turkish Governor and the head men of the Greek Christian community residing at Nicosia. Since the promulgation of the Hatti Sherif Gulhane" in 1839 - an edict of reform - the people at large took part in the appointments to bishoprics. Before the British occupation, which began in 1878, a Berat or imperial rescript ratifying the election and confirming the bishop-designate in possession of the temporalities of his see had to be obtained from the Porte.

In 1908 the Patriarch of Alexandria and representatives of the Oecumenical Patriarch and of the Patriarch of Jerusalem visited Cyprus on the invitation of the two parties, between which the Church of Cyprus was divided in the prolonged controversy then proceeding with regard to the election of an Archbishop, in the hope of being able to bring about a peaceable solution of the question by friendly arbitration. A representative of the Patriarch of Antioch would, no doubt, have been invited but for the fact that at that date friendly relations between the Patriarchate of Antioch and the other Patriarchates had not been restored. 97. The arbitration was not successful, but before the arbitrators had definitely renounced their task the Oecumenical Patriarch, without any invitation, himself assumed the right of intervention and affected to appoint in Synod the Metropolitan of Kyrenia, one of the rival candidates, as Archbishop of Cyprus.

This claim on the part of the Oecumenical Patriarch was repudiated by the majority of the Christian population of the island, and by the British Government, acting at the instance of their representatives. A special enactment was passed by the Legislature of Cyprus in the extraordinary circumstances of the case, regulating the procedure for the election of an Archbishop (Law VIII of 1908). The Metropolitan of Kition was elected Archbishop of Cyprus in pursuance of that law. His election was ultimately recognized by the whole Church of Cyprus and by the Patriarchates, the Metropolitan of Kyrenia giving up his claims under the nomination of the Oecumenical Patriarch but retaining by courtesy the title of 'Beatitude'.

Makarios III, Archbishop of Cypriot Orthodox Church, was President of Cyprus until July 15, 1974, and from July 23, 1974 until August 1977. Two of the heroes of the Cypriot revolution were General George Grivas, leader of the guerrilla movement, and politician-priest Archbishop Makarios, who became the island's first president. These two men were active during the crucial years leading to independence in 1960, and came into conflict over 'enosis' (union with Greece). The guerrillas progressed through mountain sorties, street ambushes, and assassinations. Grivas's successful strategies against british countermeasures persisted during the years of underground activity and subsequent civil war. Various factors led to the emergence of Makarios as the victor over Grivas during the post-independence conflicts. In 1974, Makarios was overthrown in a military coup engineered by officers from Athens, but the coup failed when Turkey intervened, leading to the effective partition of Cyprus and the arrival of Markarios in New York as an exile.