Archbishop Chrysostom of Cyprus
The Metropolitan of Limassol left the Divine Liturgy in protest against the decision of the Primate of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos, to recognize the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to local media.
According to the agency, during the ordination of a new bishop in the monastery of the Virgin of Chrysorrogiatissa, Archbishop Chrysostom first mentioned Epiphanius as the primate of the Ukrainian church. He stated that his decision serves Orthodoxy and the Cypriot Church.
In addition, Archbishop Chrysostomus admitted that he went against certain people. According to him, the members of the Synod did not know about this.
The OCU was created at a unification council in December 2018; in January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople handed her a tomos of autocephaly. The OCU includes representatives of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). However, in the summer of 2019, Honorary Ukrainian Patriarch Filaret (Denisenko) announced the restoration of the UOC-KP.
