Media: Cypriot Synod deposes bishop following letter from Pat Bartholomew
The Ecumenical Patriarch demanded disciplinary action against a Cypriot hierarch who insisted on rebaptizing Protestants converting to Orthodoxy.
The removal of Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos came after direct intervention by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who, in a letter to Archbishop George of Cyprus, demanded that the disobedient bishop be brought to order. This was reported by the Cypriot outlet Philenews, which published relevant documents.
A central point of conflict was Metropolitan Tychikos’s firm stance on rebaptizing individuals who had been previously baptized in Protestant denominations. The Patriarchate of Constantinople considers this an archaic practice, maintaining that Chrismation (confirmation) is sufficient for receiving Protestants into the Orthodox Church.
Philenews published a complaint from an American professor of Cypriot origin who was unable to get married in Paphos due to conflicting practices between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Metropolis of Paphos regarding the reception of non-Orthodox Christians.
The Protestant bride had received Chrismation at the Church of St. Spyridon in New York (under the Ecumenical Patriarchate) after nine months of catechesis and being given an Orthodox name. However, the Paphos Metropolis deemed Chrismation insufficient and insisted on full baptism.
“After about nine months of catechism, my wife received an Orthodox name and underwent Chrismation,” the professor wrote in his complaint. A copy of the Chrismation certificate was sent to the Paphos Metropolis, but when the couple tried to register for a church wedding in Cyprus, they were told that full baptism would be required.
The situation became even more complicated because all wedding arrangements had already been made – the banquet hall was reserved and paid for, invitations sent, and a certificate of singleness obtained from the parish of the Three Hierarchs in Chicago. When the professor spoke with the Paphos Metropolis by phone, he was told that Metropolitan Tychikos wished to meet his wife in person. Upon learning that she was not in Cyprus, the professor was referred to another priest, who told him, “Protestants do not have valid sacraments, so their baptisms are invalid.”
The professor filed complaints with the Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in New York and the Metropolis of Chicago, where the rebaptism requirement was deemed unjustified.
The matter eventually reached Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who sent a “strong protest” to Archbishop George of Cyprus. In it, the Patriarch expressed “astonishment and indignation,” calling Metropolitan Tychikos’s views “conservative and entirely outdated.” He also noted that the Metropolitan spoke “disrespectfully and inappropriately about the revered Ecumenical Throne.” The Patriarch further warned that such incidents contribute to “isolationism and jeopardize our sensitive relations with other Christian denominations and Churches.”
“Your Beatitude, convinced as we are here at the Phanar that the traditional relations between our sister Churches must continue as before, for the common good – something we are sure you and your holy brothers desire – we ask you to bring Metropolitan Tychikos to order and forbid him from disrupting the exemplary relations between the ancient Churches of Constantinople and Cyprus,” the letter stated.
Reporting the situation to the Holy Synod, Archbishop George remarked, “Because of this complaint, we have been discredited before the Orthodox Church in America [i.e., the Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – Ed.] and American governmental authorities.”
As previously reported by the UOJ, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus has removed Metropolitan Tychikos from the administration of the Metropolis of Paphos.
