Message of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, at the funeral service of His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of Nea Justiniana and All Cyprus, 12 November 2022:
Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus – a dynamic and missionary shepherd
The Romanian Orthodox Church has received, with deep sadness, the news of the departure from this world of our beloved brother in Christ and concelebrant, the worthy of remembrance Chrysostomos II, Archbishop of Nea Justiniana and All Cyprus.
Gifted by God with special charisms for fulfilling the holy mission of a dynamic archpastor, Archbishop Chrysostomos II was concerned with preserving and promoting the Orthodox faith and ethos, embodied in a permanent pastoral and missionary care for the believers of the Church of Cyprus.
His Beatitude was, at the same time, attentive to the cultural and mentality transformations in the contemporary world, affected by multiple crises, in the social, economic and sanitary fields, as well as in the spiritual field.
During his service, through his entire activity, Archbishop Chrysostomos II was a dynamic shepherd and a diligent missionary in the life of the Church he pastorally cared for 16 years.
Thus, the worthy of remembrance Archbishop Chrysostomos II renewed the Charter of the Church of Cyprus, established a Theological Faculty for the training of the clergy of his Church, contributed to the increasing of the number of the Holy Synod members by reactivating, after 800 years, some old episcopal centres and set up a fund for ensuring decent living conditions for the poor clergy in the Church of Cyprus.
Faithfully following the Lord’s prayer „that all may be one” (John 17: 21), Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus stood out as a fervent defender and supporter of both pan-Orthodox unity, as well as promoter of the efforts for dialogue and practical cooperation at inter-Christian and inter-religious levels.
He has been very active at the Synaxes of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, in preparation of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, in Crete (2016).
At the same time, he has manifested a fraternal and friendly attitude towards the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Romanian people, in general. He has, also, shown, in particular, pastoral parental love towards the Romanian Orthodox faithful settled in Cyprus, towards our representative, reverend father Matei Petre.
Moreover, Archbishop Chrysostomos II gladly received several Romanian clerics, who, with our blessing, serve in parishes of the Church of Cyprus, being a concrete example of Orthodox cooperation and fraternal help.
For everything that our brother in Christ, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, represented for the entire Orthodoxy and for the cooperation between peoples, we offer a pious tribute of gratitude and pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, to rest his soul in the light, peace and love of the Most Holy Trinity.
May his memory be eternal from generation to generation!
† Daniel
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Photo Credit: in-cyprus.philenews.com
