Cyprus Archbishop Chrysostomos II dies

The state-run Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation reported his death on Monday.

Chrysostomos had suffered from liver cancer for the last four years and had spent his final days at the church's headquarters in the capital.

The CyBC said the Holy Synod - the church's highest decision-making body - will convene to make arrangements for the funeral to which other Orthodox Church leaders will be invited.

Tall and imposing with a white beard in accordance with Orthodox clerical tradition, Chrysostomos seldom held back from speaking his mind on issues ranging from politics to the country's finances, rallying supporters but causing consternation among some politicians and other critics who scolded him for not sticking to his religious duties.

Prior to the island nation's multibillion-euro financial rescue by international creditors in March 2013, Chrysostomos declared he would have preferred that the cash-strapped country abandon the euro as its currency rather than accept a bailout deal that he said would set its economy back decades. He said a euro exit would at least salvage Cyprus' dignity.

After the deal was signed, forcing large depositors in the country's two biggest banks to take a hit on their savings, an indignant Chrysostomos said: "This isn't the Europe that we believed in when we joined."

The cleric railed against politicians and bankers he called "thieves" who ran for cover while "poor people paid the piper" for their ruinous decisions. He also warned that he wouldn't hesitate to call on the people to rise up in order to prevent technocrats from "wreaking havoc" on the country's banking sector.

His comments about the world of finance prompted some critics to say he was behaving more like a businessman and banker than a spiritual leader.

Although Chrysostomos had in the past openly courted Russian investors and the Kremlin's political support, relations with the Russian Orthodox Church frayed when he followed in 2020 the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to recognise the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church's independence.

During the coronavirus pandemic, he threw his full support behind scientists' recommendations for inoculations and other restrictions aimed at preventing the virus' spread.

His ascension to the throne in 2006, after his predecessor and namesake could no longer carry out his duties because of poor health, reflected his political adroitness.

Church leaders in Cyprus are elected by lay voters in combination with a college of clerics, a tradition that goes back centuries. Hardly the people's favourite and trailing the two frontrunners in the lay vote, Chrysostomos outmanoeuvred his rivals by clinching majority support within the college to win.

Chrysostomos had spoken openly about his distrust of Turkey's intentions in Cyprus. In a 2018 interview, he said he never believed that a peace deal to reunify the ethnically divided island nation was possible because Turkey wanted to establish a Turkish state in the country.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent state in the north of the Mediterranean island, recognised only by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there.

Addressing Pope Benedict XVI during the pontiff's 2010 visit to the island, Chrysostomos accused Turkey of trying to carry out "its obscure plans which include the annexation of the land now under military occupation and then a conquest of the whole of Cyprus."

Despite his politics, the archbishop worked closely with the Muslim mufti, the religious leader of the Turkish Cypriots, as well as other Christian leaders to rebuild religious sites to send the message that faith is an anchor rather than a hindrance to peace.

Born on April 10, 1941, Chrysostomos' religious calling came early when he joined Cyprus' famous monastery of Saint Neophytos as a lay-brother right after completing primary school. He steadily rose through the church's ranks until 1978, when he was enthroned bishop of his native prefecture of Paphos.

As archbishop, Chrysostomos shored up church finances and enacted a string of reforms, includng restoring the church's decision-making independence by bolstering the Holy Synod with the ordination of new bishops and the drafting of a new constitution.

Chrysostomos was a strong supporter of closer relations between the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

"I want to do real work, not just for show. I came and I'll eventually be gone, so I want to leave something behind for this country, that's what matters," Chrysostomos told state broadcaster CyBC in 2022.

Australian Associated Press