Paphos Metropolitan rejects Archbishop’s restrictions on services
Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos demands permission to hold a memorial service for his mother in the main church of his village and calls for joint communion.
Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos addressed Archbishop George of Cyprus in a letter stating the need to serve the memorial Divine Liturgy in the main church of Mesana on Sunday, where all the residents of the town traditionally gather, rather than in the chapel in a remote area on Saturday as proposed by the Archbishop. This was reported by the UOJ in Greece, citing philenews.
The Metropolitan considers the suggested chapel dangerous for elderly parishioners due to lack of infrastructure and high temperatures. Tychikos claims his rights to serve have never been removed and that there are no canonical grounds for prohibitions. He demands that all documents concerning his case, which have not been handed over to him for more than a month, be provided.
At the end of his letter, the Metropolitan invites the Archbishop to concelebrate at the memorial service and to receive communion “from the same Holy Chalice” as a demonstration of ecclesial unity, stressing that the final decision on his status must be made by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Full text of the letter:
“In my letter of June 22, 2025, I asked you and the Holy Synod to allow me to serve in the monastery that remains without services, and also requested permission to serve on the weekend of July 5–6 in my native village of Mesana in Paphos, to hold the six-year memorial of my mother Frederica.
The Holy Synod in its letter of June 23, 2025, established that for me to serve, permission of the ‘Locum Tenens’ is required.
In accordance with this directive, on June 25, 2025, I submitted the relevant petition asking to be allowed to celebrate 15 Divine Liturgies and 2 all-night vigils in various parishes and villages (until May 22, 2025, I had been celebrating many more services). However, in your reply of June 26, 2025, you informed me that you do not permit me to serve in Paphos.
As you state, ‘by ecclesiastical economy’ you allow me to celebrate the Divine Liturgy on Saturday, July 5, 2025, for the memorial, but you do not explain the grounds for such strict prohibition, nor the basis for applying economy, since I have not been deprived of my rank nor suspended from ministry (obviously, in either of those cases there would be no place for ‘economy’).
I would go to serve alone in the chapel of Saint George in Mesana on Saturday, July 5, as you know I have special reverence for this holy place and have written a book on its history, for which you wrote the preface.
The memorial is set for Sunday, July 6, 2025 (the day of my physical mother Frederica’s repose) in the Church of Saint Apostle Tychikos in Mesana, where my mother always prayed with great devotion. According to established tradition, memorial services are held in the main parish or village church where all the faithful gather – this is the wish of my father, my brothers, and my personal desire. Celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Saint Apostle Tychikos in Mesana will enable relatives and all who valued my mother to attend.
Holding the memorial ‘by economy’ in the chapel of Saint George in Mesana involves multiple dangers, as is well known. It is a 10-minute drive from the village, requiring a high-clearance vehicle since the approach is along a dirt road. There are no planted trees, no electricity, water supply, or sanitation facilities. The area is overgrown with wild vegetation with a serious risk of encounters with snakes and other reptiles. With temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, there is a significant likelihood of fainting, especially among the elderly, posing a real threat to life, since it is at least a 40-minute drive from Mesana to the nearest hospital in Paphos.
I ask that you give me the appropriate blessing to serve on Sunday, July 6, 2025.
No sacred canons or rules of the Charter of the Church of Cyprus provide for prohibiting me from performing sacred rites and Liturgies, since I have violated none of them and have never been deprived of the right to minister.
My confession of faith was sent on June 18, 2025, by email to the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod and delivered to him by courier on June 19, 2025. On June 22, 2025, it was sent to all Synodal hierarchs on the eve of the Holy Synod’s meeting on June 23, 2025, as the receipts of delivery confirm. Obviously, the confession of faith was not a prerequisite for my ministry but was required ‘to receive the title and position from the Holy Synod’ (according to the Holy Synod’s notice of May 22, 2025).
As I stated in my letter of June 22, 2025, to you and the brother Synodal hierarchs: ‘All your documents are transmitted solely for your information. Obviously, this does not mean that the Holy Synod will make any new decision on my case, since we are awaiting the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.’
Furthermore, I have repeatedly, for more than a month, asked to be given all documents concerning me, such as meeting minutes, any sentencing verdict, official text of complaints with evidence, and any other relevant complaints. Despite this, they are systematically and without any justification being withheld from me.
I ask Your Beatitude personally to address this matter.
In your letter, you inform me that ‘the Holy Synod calls my attention to the strict observance of its decisions,’ though everyone knows very well that I have never been disobedient to the Holy Synod.
Finally, Your Beatitude, I conclude my letter with what is not the least in importance but perhaps the most important: I convey to you the personal wish – mine and my family’s – that you come to my mother’s memorial, which she revered you without bounds, to be held on Sunday, July 6, so that we may concelebrate and receive communion from the same Holy Chalice. This will allow us to show our unity in Christ.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Archbishop of Cyprus had prohibited Metropolitan Tychikos from celebrating services.
