The head of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos, said that “some members of the Holy Synod should remember that I am still an Archbishop, I have not died and am still alive.” This is reported by orthodoxtimes.
He also stated that “their behavior is a reason for the Church to take strict measures,” but added that “it will leave them in their delusion.”
According to him, the members of the Holy Synod, who did not recognize the OCU and the Phanar’s interference in the Ukrainian church issue, who abstain from the synodal concelebrating the liturgy, thus take a position in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were also absent at the service in memory of the Ethnomartyr Archbishop Kyprianos, which was determined by the Holy Synod to be performed by the members of the Holy Synod.
Archbishop Chrysostomos said: “I think the brothers are wrong. If I am interested in making them see reason, they stop being synodal members, when they do not respect the Holy Synod. That is why I remain silent, so that the Church is not harmed.”
He noted that he learned the virtue of patience when he was a monk in the monastery of St. Neophytos: “When someone was very stubborn, we said, let him remain in his delusion.”
Asked whether the crisis is deepening under the threat of breaking the communion, he said: “If this issue does not deepen, then the Church must be strict. I have ways to put them in their place, but I will not start now.”
