Makarios I

Makarios I was Archbishop of Cyprus from 1854 until 1865.

Biography He was born in the village of Prodromos, Ottoman Cyprus, and his original surname was Christodoulides .

He started his religious studies at Trooditissa Monastery and was later transferred to Kykkos Monastery. He was ordained deacon in 1823, two years after the Greek Revolution and the massacres of 9 July. He served as deacon in Paphos diocese, later he served as deacon to Archbishop of Cyprus Panaretos and subsequent Archbishops, Ioannikios and Kyrillos I.

He was ordained Archbishop on 26 August 1854 succeeding Kyrillos I who had died a month earlier.

For his days, thanks to the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856, he managed to rise and sound the bell for the first time in the Turkish-occupied Nicosia, in the cathedral of St. John. He made sure that the religious duties of the clergy were guaranteed, while he was the first Archbishop to gain the right to participate in the general board of the island. He repaired the Archbishop's building (1862–1863), rebuilt the Grand Synod and completed the final picture of the Archbishop's building complex until the changes that took place in the past century.