Holy Synod member confirms letter urging Cyprus priests to leave the Church and found a new one

Nicosia, Cyprus. Archimandrite Georgios Christodoulou, a member of the Holy Synod, confirmed on Tuesday that a letter urging priests to break away from the Church of Cyprus and establish a new church is being circulated. The existence of the letter had been reported earlier.

Synod response

Christodoulou told media that the letter was not on the agenda of the Synod’s extraordinary meeting on Tuesday. He said it would be taken up at a later stage, “before it gets out of hand”.

The letter and its authors

Phileleftheros reported that the letter, which in effect calls for a mutiny, carries the signatures of five people. It was sent to every cleric based in Paphos and to several priests in other districts.

The authors are believed to support “apoteichisis”, a term derived from a Greek word that literally means “walling off”. In Eastern Orthodox Christian theology, it describes a practice in which a cleric or member of the Church stops sharing ecclesiastical communion with their ruling bishop or patriarch and no longer mentions that figure in liturgical prayers.

Adherents resort to it when they judge that church leaders are teaching heresy or departing from Orthodox dogma. They do not regard it as leaving the Church or creating a new schism. In their view, it puts up a “protective wall” between them and a compromised clergyman in order to safeguard the true faith.

Link to former Paphos bishop Tychikos

Supporters of Tychikos, the former bishop of Paphos, are thought to be behind the initiative. He was removed from his post in May 2025 after being charged with several breaches of church protocol, among them displaying an icon of a saint who had not been canonised by the church.

Tychikos challenged his removal before the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but the appeal failed. In January this year, the Holy Synod voted to suspend him from priestly duties indefinitely, after he decided to take legal action in the civil courts.

Tychikos was summoned to Tuesday’s meeting of the Synod but did not attend. He sent a letter asking for a face-to-face meeting with the archbishop.