George III ( el, Γεώργιος Γ΄) born on May 25, 1949 under the name of Georgios Papachrysostomou ( el, Γεώργιος Παπαχρυσοστόμου) in

Athienou Athienou ( el, Αθηένου or , ) is a village in Larnaca District, Cyprus. It is one of only four villages located within the United Nations Buffer Zone, the other three being Pyla, Troulloi and Deneia. Today, Athienou has a population of a ...

had been the Metropolitan of the Diocese of Paphos since 2006 and, from November 7, 2022, the

locum tenens A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...

of the

Church of Cyprus The Church of Cyprus ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Κύπρου, translit=Ekklisia tis Kyprou; tr, Kıbrıs Kilisesi) is one of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox churches that together with other Eastern Orthodox churches form the communio ...

. On 24 December 2022, he was elected

Archbishop of Cyprus This is a list of Archbishops of Cyprus since its foundation with known dates of enthronement. According to tradition, the Church of Cyprus was created by St. Barnabas in 45 AD. The see of Cyprus was declared autocephalous by the Council of Eph ...

. He "formally assumed his new duties" starting Sunday, 08 January 2023, after the enthronement ceremony at Saint Barnabas Cathedral in

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

Early Life

George was born in

in 1949, a village in

. He studied chemistry at the Kapodistrian University of Athens between 1968 and 1972, then he took theology courses there between 1976 and 1980. On December 23, 1984, he was ordained deacon in the

and May 17, 1985, priest and Archimandrite by Archbishop Chrysostomos I of

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 Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

(n° 15300/891) which resulted in Turkey's first conviction. (507/3.2.94) for

violation of human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

in Cyprus. In 1996, he was elected Bishop of Arsinois. On December 29, 2006, he was unanimously elected to replace

Chrysostomos II of Cyprus Chrysostomos II ( el, Χρυσόστομος Β΄), born Irodotos Dimitriou (Greek: Ηρόδοτος Δημητρίου; 10 April 1941 – 7 November 2022), was the Archbishop of Cyprus from 2006 to 2022. Clerical career Chrysostomos was born i ...

as Metropolitan of Paphos. In the meantime, he became head of ecumenical affairs for the

as well as head of its bioethics committee.

2022 Archiepiscopal election

On November 7, 2022, following the death of Chrysostomos II of Cyprus, he became

of the

pending the episcopal election which were to determine the next archbishop. He announced the Archbishop's death on Cypriot and Greek television and called on all the faithful to pay their last respects to the remains of the late Archbishop. Chrysostomos II was buried on November 12, 2022 in the Cathedral of the Apostle Barnabas in

, where the Archbishops of Cyprus are buried. The ceremony was presided by George of Paphos and participated, among others, the

President of Cyprus The president of Cyprus, officially the president of the Republic of Cyprus, is the head of state and the head of government of Cyprus. The office was created in 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Currently, t ...

Bartholomew I Bartholomew I ( el, Βαρθολομαῖος Αʹ, , tr, I. Bartholomeos; born 29 February 1940) is the 270th archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, since 2 November 1991. In accordance with his title, he is regarded as the '' ...

, the

Patriarch of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major episco ...

, the Archbishop of Greece and the

President of Greece The president of Greece, officially the President of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρόεδρος της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Próedros tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), commonly referred to in Greek as the President of the Rep ...

. He was responsible for organizing the proper holding of the 2022 Cypriot archiepiscopal election.{{cite web , title=Τι προνοεί το Καταστατικό της Εκκλησίας μετά τη χηρεία του Αρχιεπισκοπικού θρόνου. Πως διεξάγονται οι εκλογές , url=https://cyprustimes.com/koinonia/ti-pronoei-to-katastatiko-tis-ekklisias-meta-ti-chireia-toy-archiepiskopikoy-thronoy-pos-diexagontai-oi-ekloges/ , access-date=2022-11-09 , website=cyprustimes.com , language=en-US , publication-date=

Archbishop of Cyprus

On 24 December 2022, he was elected

by the Holy Synod, with 11 votes in favor out of the 16. The Archbishop's enthronement ceremony took place on Sunday, 08 January 2023, at Saint Barnabas Cathedral in

. In his address, he stated that his goal is to "reinvigorate the Christian message in modern spiritual discourse", continue the "Church’s outreach to the poor", and "convey that scientific thought isn’t in conflict with the precepts of Christianity".

Notes and references

Archbishops of Cyprus 1949 births People from Larnaca District