Phanar archon says why election of new Paphos Metropolitan is illegitimate
A Phanar archon argues that the procedure for filling the vacant see of Paphos violated both the old and new Charters of the Church of Cyprus.
Archon Asikritos Anastasios Vavouskos, a canon lawyer and attorney, has published a legal analysis arguing that Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus violated both the 2010 Charter and its revised version adopted in May 2026 during the process of filling the see of Paphos, UOJ-Greece reports.
In his analysis, the legal expert examined in detail how each document was violated. Following the final decision in the case of Metropolitan Tychikos in October 2025, Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus was required under the then-effective 2010 Charter to issue circular letters within 10 days and hold elections involving the faithful within 40 days.
A new hierarch should have been elected with the participation of the laity and enthroned no later than December 2025. However, according to Vavouskos, the Primate unlawfully delayed the process for six months, missing the prescribed deadlines and depriving the laity of their right to vote.
In May 2026, the Synod adopted a revised Charter that completely eliminated lay participation in episcopal elections. It also abolished the requirement that the document be published in the official journal Apostolos Barnabas before entering into force.
Yet even under the new Charter, the procedure was invalid, Vavouskos argues. Article 28 required the Archbishop of Cyprus personally to invite candidates and initiate the process by issuing an official circular letter, or encyclical. Instead, the Synod itself announced the procedure through a collective communiqué.
Under the new Charter, the Archbishop was also required to specify the application deadline in his circular letter, within one month of the Charter’s entry into force – that is, by June 20, 2026. Instead, the Synod unilaterally imposed an extremely short and arbitrary deadline of just three working days.
Article 28(1) of the new Charter expressly requires an episcopal election to be held within 40 days of the see becoming vacant, which occurred on October 17, 2025. Holding the vote 10 months later therefore also constituted a direct violation of the new document.
“To expel the lawful hierarch, the Archbishop of Cyprus first violated the 2010 Charter then in force, then persuaded the Synod to adopt a new document, and subsequently violated that one as well,” Vavouskos concluded.
“My criticism regarding the validity of the election concerns exclusively an institutional and legal matter,” the attorney clarified. “It contains no accusations or negative intentions toward the person of the hierarch elected.”
In conclusion, the Phanar archon stated that regardless of whether the election of the new Metropolitan of Paphos is examined under the 2010 Charter or the 2026 Charter, the conclusion remains the same: the election is legally invalid and illegitimate.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the enthronement of the new Metropolitan of Paphos in Cyprus took place amid protests.
