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Cyprus Religion
The most important church in Cyprus, the Church of
Cyprus, is
an autocephalous church in the Orthodox tradition using
the Greek
liturgy. It recognized the seniority and prestige of the
ecumenical
patriarch in Constantinople, while retaining complete
administrative autonomy under its own archbishop. The
Great Schism,
as the split between Catholic and Orthodox became known,
had major
consequences for the Church of Cyprus. Under Lusignan and
Venetian
rule, the Church of Cyprus was pressured to recognize the
authority
of the Roman pope. The imposed Roman hierarchy attempted
to remold
the Church of Cyprus in the image of the Western church.
Under the
Muslim Ottomans, Cypriots were no longer considered
schismatics,
but merely unbelievers and followers of an inferior
religion. As
such they were allowed considerable autonomy, and the
archbishop
was the officially recognized secular as well as religious
leader
of his community. Under the British, there was an attempt
to
secularize all public institutions, but this move was
bitterly
opposed by church authorities, who used the conflict with
the state
to gain leadership of the Greek nationalist movement
against
colonial rule. At independence Archbishop Makarios III, a
young,
Western-educated former monk, was elected president of the
republic, holding this position until his death in 1977.
His
successor, Archbishop Chrysostomos, was still head of the
Church of
Cyprus at the beginning of the 1990s. He was a
conservative leader,
both in religious and political matters, well-suited for a
church
that had never undergone reforms similar to those
instituted by the
Second Vatican Council for the Roman Catholic Church.
The church had long been composed of four episcopal
sees: the
archbishopric of Nicosia, and the metropolitanates of
Paphos,
Kition, and Kyrenia. New metropolitanates were created by
Makarios
in 1973 for Limassol and Morphou, with a suffragan, or
assistant,
bishop in Salamis under the archbishop. A bishop had to be
a
graduate of the Orthodox theological seminary in Greece
and be at
least thirty years of age. Since Orthodox bishops were
sworn to a
vow of celibacy and parish clergy were usually married,
bishops
were recruits from monasteries rather than parish
churches. Bishops
were not appointed by the archbishop, but, like him, were
elected
through a system granting representation to laymen, other
bishops,
abbots, and regular clergy.
Individual churches, monasteries, dioceses, and
charitable
educational institutions organized by the Church of Cyprus
were
independent legal persons enjoying such rights and
obligations as
holding property. In exchange for many church lands
acquired by the
government, the government assumed responsibility for
church
salaries. Parish clergy, traditionally married men chosen
by their
fellow villagers, were sent for brief training before
ordination.
In the twentieth century, modernizers, most notably
Archbishop
Makarios, were instrumental in strengthening the quality
and
training of priests at the Cypriot seminary in Nicosia.
The monasteries of Cyprus had always been very
important to the
Church of Cyprus. By the twentieth century many had long
lain in
ruins, but their properties were among the most important
holdings
of the church, the island's largest landowner. Although
the number
of monks decreased in the postwar era, in the early 1990s
there
were at least ten active monasteries in the
government-controlled
areas.
In the Orthodox church, ritual was to a great extent
the
center of the church's activity, for Orthodox doctrine
emphasizes
the mystery of God's grace rather than salvation through
works and
knowledge. Seven sacraments are recognized: baptism in
infancy,
followed by confirmation with consecrated oil, penance,
the
Eucharist, matrimony, ordination, and unction in times of
sickness
or when near death.
Formal services are lengthy and colorful, with singing,
incense, and elaborate vestments according to the occasion
for the
presiding priest. Statues are forbidden, but the
veneration of
icons, located on the church's walls and often covered
with
offerings of the faithful, is highly developed. Easter is
the focus
of the church year, closing the Lenten fasting with an
Easter Eve
vigil and procession. Marriage is a highly ritualized
occasion.
Formal divorce proceedings are required for broken
engagements that
have been ratified by the church. The wedding sponsors
play an
important role in the family, for they usually act as
godparents of
all children born of that union.
Religious observance varied. In traditional rural
villages,
women attended services more frequently than men, and
elderly
family members were usually responsible for fulfilling
religious
duties on behalf of the whole family. Church attendance
was less
frequent in urban areas and among educated Cypriots. For
much of
the population, religion centered on rituals at home,
veneration of
icons, and observance of certain feast days of the
Orthodox
calendar.
Data as of January 1991
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