George of Cyprus

Archbishop George (, Secular name Georgios Papachrysostomou) (b. 25 May 1949, Athienou, British Cyprus) is the current Archbishop of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus since 8 January 2023.

He had been the Metropolitan of the Diocese of Paphos since 2006 and, from 7 November 2022, the locum tenens of the Church of Cyprus. On 24 December 2022, he was elected Archbishop of Cyprus. He "formally assumed his new duties" starting Sunday, 8 January 2023, after the enthronement ceremony at Saint Barnabas Cathedral in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Early life George was born to Greek Cypriot parents in Athienou in 1949, a village in Cyprus. He studied chemistry at the Kapodistrian University of Athens between 1968 and 1972, then he took theology courses there between 1976 and 1980. On 23 December 1984, he was ordained deacon in the Church of Cyprus and 17 May 1985, priest and Archimandrite by Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus.

Clerical Career In 1994, he became Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus. Alongside his ecclesiastical duties, he served as a chemistry teacher in Cypriot high schools. He was arrested and abused by the Turkish occupation troops in Cyprus and lodged an appeal in 1989 against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights (n° 15300/891), which resulted in Turkey's first conviction (507/3.2.94) for violation of human rights in Cyprus.

Episcopacy In 1996, he was elected Bishop of Arsinois.

On 29 December 2006, he was unanimously elected to replace Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus as Metropolitan of Paphos. In the meantime, he became head of ecumenical affairs for the Church of Cyprus as well as head of its bioethics committee.

Chrysostomos II was buried on 12 November 2022 in the Cathedral of the Apostle Barnabas in Nicosia, where the Archbishops of Cyprus are buried. The ceremony was presided by George of Paphos and participated, among others, the President of Cyprus, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria, the Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and the President of Greece.

He was responsible for organizing the proper holding of the 2022 Cypriot archiepiscopal election.

As Archbishop of Cyprus On 24 December 2022, he was elected Archbishop of Cyprus by the Holy Synod, with 11 votes in favor out of the 16.