Agios Amvrosios, Limassol District, Cyprus, June 3, 2025
The Church of St. Ephraim of Nea Makri in Agios Amvrosios. Photo: impaphou.org
On May 22, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus voted to dethrone His Eminence Metropolitan Tychikos, who served as the ruling hierarch of the Paphos Metropolis for just over two years.
Three main accusations were brought against the Metropolitan by the primate of the Cypriot Church, Archbishop Georgios, who during his own time as the ruling hierarch of Paphos ordained and worked closely with the future Metropolitan Tychikos.
Among those accusations was that Met. Tychikos had consecrated a chapel in honor of a cleric who has not been formally canonized—Elder Nektarios (Vitalis), who was miraculously healed of cancer by St. Nektarios of Aegina in 1980. He became a beloved spiritual father in his own right and reposed in February 2018.
However, it is well known that in the Limassol Diocese, for example, St. Joseph the Hesychast was publicly venerated as a saint long before his formal canonization (His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol voted not to dethrone Met. Tychikos).
Moreover, as the Union of Orthodox Journalists-Greece reveals, the Archbishop himself, in his time as Metropolitan of Paphos, had done the same thing that he accused Met. Tychikos of.
The outlet published a photo of the marble plaque from a Church of St. Ephraim of Nea Makri that states that the church was consecrated by then-Metropolitan Georgios of Paphos on July 13, 2008:
Photo: eeod.gr
However, St. Ephraim was canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople only three years later, on March 2, 2011.
“How then is it possible for the Archbishop to accuse Metropolitan Tychikos of an ‘offense’ which he himself has committed?” the outlet asks.
This information is confirmed by the parish entry on the Metropolis of Paphos’ own site, which states that the church had opened even two years before the consecration, on December 6, 2006.
Moreover, the church was consecrated not just by then-Metropolitan Georgios, but also Archbishop Chrysostomos II, who was primate of the Cypriot Church at that time.
According to the Union of Orthodox Journalists, Abp. Georgios was recently asked by a journalist if he has ever consecrated a church in honor of a non-canonized saint and he responded: “No, I haven’t done anything like that.”
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