Paphos bishop elected head of Cyprus church

The Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus chose its new primate Sunday by the electoral assembly
of 131 clerics and lay representatives after Saturday’s process ended in a walk-out by the
supporters of the previous front-runner for the throne.
Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos, acting as ‘locum tenens’ ever since the throne was vacated in September following the incapacitating illness of Archbishop Chrysostomos four years ago, won 73 of the votes in a joint ballot third round of the election process.
The new Archbishop Chrysostomos, 65, became the prime candidate after the favourite to become the next primate, Bishop Nikiphoros of Kykkos was manouvered out of the elections, despite having most of the votes in a complicated process on Saturday.
Bishop Athanassios of Limassol was the runner up in the elections with 57 votes and one abstention.
The previous Archbishop Chrysostomos had succeeded the first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, who died on August 3, 1977. However, he fell ill in 2001 and the struggle to name a new archbishop has been ongoing ever since.
The Church of Cyprus is ‘autocephalous’ or independent of any other Orthodox church even though
the spiritual leader of all Greek Orthodox peoples is Patriarch Bartholomeus who retains his ecumenical throne in Istanbul.
The Archbishop of Cyprus enjoys exceptional privileges — signs in red ink, wears special
empirical tunic at important church ceremonies and holds a scepter.
The Church was declared autocephalous in 478 AD when the remains of its founder, Saint Barnabas, were located on the island, in a tomb together with a copy of the gospel by Saint Mathew.