Father Petre Matei, the priest of the Romanian Orthodox community in Nicosia, shared with the Romanian audience the sad news of the repose of Archbishop Chrysostomos II whom he described as an active archbishop and an able steward.
The representative of the Romanian Patriarchate in Cyprus said that the lifeless body of His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos was placed in the Archdiocesan Cathedral, where a memorial service was performed on Monday. In addition, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus met to set the funeral details.
The personality of Archbishop Christosomos is enormous, Father Petre Matei said, adding that the Archbishop has achieved what no one has done for the Church of Cyprus.
“He established the Faculty of Theology and restored the Statute on the Organization and Operation of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. He re-established the old historical dioceses, which were abolished by the Crusaders, the Latin occupation here in Cyprus, and restored the number of synodal members.”
Until 2007, for specific complex problems of the Church of Cyprus, non-Cypriot hierarchs were invited from the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Alexandria so that the Holy Synod could make a decision, the Romanian priest explained.
Father Petre Matei noted that Archbishop Chrysostomos also solved the problematic situation of the salary of the clerical staff.
“He built dormitories for students and offered scholarships to poor children, as well as aid for operations in Cyprus or abroad. He was an archbishop of action, a great householder and a good steward of the wealth of the Church of Cyprus,” the priest of the Romanian Orthodox Community in Nicosia said.
His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, fell asleep in the Lord on Monday morning at 81 after a long battle with cancer.
A few hours after hearing the sad news, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel expressed condolences to the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus.
Photography courtesy of the Romanian Orthodox Community in Nicosia
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