CYPRIOT ORTHODOX CHURCH

CYPRIOT ORTHODOX CHURCH. The largest island in the east Mediterranean, situated to the south and west of the Turkish and Syrian coasts, is divided today by a population 80 percent Greek and 20 percent Turkish, each maintaining separate governments since 1974. It is also the site of an ancient and fully autocephalous (q.v.) church that dates back to Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13) and was home to many early Christians, attested in the Byzantine lives of the saints. Taken over by the Arabs and then freed in the 10th c., the island-more especially the Church-spent four centuries under the Crusaders (q.v.) until being rid of the Latins by the Turks in 1571. The Turks allowed the Church to be reconstituted in four dioceses.

At present, Cyprus’s five dioceses are presided over by Archbishop Chrysostom Kykkatis (q.v.). Its active monasteries, particularly Kykko in the Paphos range and Stavrovounion, continue to be important centers of devotion and inspiration. Since the regime of the late Archbishop Macarius (see Mouskos, Makarios III), the Cypriot Church has also been active in the mission to Africa. Cypriot donations built the seminary for East Africa at Nairobi, and the current Bishop of Kenya is himself a Cypriot, Macarius Tellyrides.