Nicosia, Cyprus, November 7, 2022
Photo: churchofcyprus.org.cy
His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, reposed in the Lord this morning at the age 81, following a prolonged battle with cancer, reports the Cypriot Church.
He served as primate of the Church for 16 years.
“His Beatitude fell asleep peacefully after facing the test of his illness with courage, patience and Christian determination,” reads the medical press release informing of his repose.
As the senior hierarch of the Cypriot Church, Metropolitan Georgios of Paphos will serve as Locum Tenens until a new Archbishop is elected.
May Abp. Chrysostomos’ memory be eternal!
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The future archbishop was born in Paphos, Cyprus, on April 10, 1941. After primary school, he was accepted as a novice at the Monastery of St. Neophytos.
On November 3, 1963, he was ordained to the diaconate and served at the monastery for 5 years.
From 1968 to 1972, he studied at the Theological School of the University of Athens, after which he was elected abbot of St. Neophytos Monastery. He was ordained a priest, elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and installed as abbot on November 12, 1972.
On February 26, 1978, he was consecrated as Metropolitan of Paphos. He dedicated himself to the formation and improvement of the conditions for the clergy, and to the spiritual cultivation of his flock. He also helped create new dioceses and expand the Cypriot Church to restore the full autocephaly it enjoyed before the Franks and the Catholic Pope abolished in the 13th century.
He was elected Archbishop of Cyprus on November 5, 2006, and enthroned on November 12.
Abp. Chrysostomos suffered from a number of ailments in his final years. In October 2018, he initially announced that he had been suffering from cancer since that summer and underwent laparoscopic surgery in London to remove two tumors. Upon his return to Cyprus, he began chemotherapy, and in March 2019, he announced that he was cancer free.
It late August it was discovered that his cancer had returned and a new cycle of chemotherapy began, continuing through late-December. In late January 2020, Abp. Chrysostomos underwent a successful liver surgery in North Carolina.
In October 2020, he underwent spinal surgery in Athens.
In March of this year, he underwent surgery for a fractured humerus.
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