God’s laws take effect – a lesson for the slanderous mayor of Paphos
The Mayor of Paphos, who had been lobbying for the suspension of Metropolitan Tychikos, has been removed from office over criminal offenses. We offer below a translation of an article by a Greek theologian and UOJ contributor about this situation.
"Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm".
The former Mayor of Paphos, Phaedon Phaedonos, was one of the chief supporters and organizers of the removal of Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos from his episcopal throne.
As we wrote earlier in the article "The Fellowship" (September 18, 2025), Phaedonos acted in close collusion with the Archbishop of Cyprus, and for several months systematically turned public opinion against Metropolitan Tychikos: he went around (even on Great Tuesday, Great Wednesday, and Great Thursday!) to all the Cypriot TV channels and – through lies and numerous slanderous statements – ran a campaign against the hierarch. That article exposed the behavior and the role of the former mayor in organizing actions against Metropolitan Tychikos.
With astounding brazenness, in one of his TV appearances (with journalist Nikitas Kyriakou, ANT1 Cyprus), Phaedonos directly instructed the Holy Synod what it should do with Metropolitan Tychikos: "A very clear message must be sent: the Holy Synod must be cautious, because this story that they were supposedly inspired by the Holy Spirit... No, it is not the Holy Spirit. [...] The Holy Synod – I say this with great love – must choose a person, I will not specify whether he must be a native of Paphos or not. A bishop, the Metropolitan of Paphos, who understands in advance that the incoming metropolitan is obliged to do both spiritual work and administrative work, because that is how metropolises are structured. But if someone wants absolute peace, absolute quiet, and closed doors, there are plenty of monasteries for that."
The Synod hastened to carry out the mayor’s instruction.
Significantly, the Archbishop of Cyprus, in his testimony before the Holy Synod at the session where Metropolitan Tychikos was declared deposed (May 22, 2025), used Phaedon’s slanderous accusations against the metropolitan. Even the Patriarch, when the appeal was considered by the Patriarchal Synod (October 17, 2025), spoke of Phaedonos in highly flattering terms in order to justify the synodal decision to depose Metropolitan Tychikos.
So then, as is known, on May 22, 2025, Metropolitan Tychikos was declared deposed; on October 17, 2025, the deposition was affirmed by the Patriarchal Synod; and on January 8, 2026, Metropolitan Tychikos was suspended for an indefinite period, with a complete ban on performing sacred rites.
And yet... God did not delay in answering... Spiritual laws have already begun to act in Paphos – and woe if they spread to all of Cyprus.
God gave a clear warning: "Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm" (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15) and "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). In other words: do not dare lay hands on My chosen ones, those dedicated to Me – and do not harm My prophets, do not act with malice, for I will avenge and repay, says the Lord!
God’s promise has already begun to be fulfilled: the chief enemy and organizer of the deposition and suspension of Metropolitan Tychikos, the Mayor of Paphos, Phaedon Phaedonos, has himself been removed from office by the Minister of the Interior of Cyprus!
He arranged a deposition and a suspension – and received a deposition and a dismissal! He fought to make Tychikos the former Metropolitan of Paphos – and became the former Mayor of Paphos himself!
And yet there is a fundamental difference between them: the persecution of Metropolitan Tychikos became for him a badge of honor – the very mark by which God has crowned many great saints who suffered for fidelity to the Church – whereas the removal of Phaedonos is a disgrace: he is accused of serious criminal offenses – rape, financial schemes, and domestic violence.
We should not forget that God’s promises and His actions in the life of each of us – even the most painful – are always directed toward our good, toward our salvation, which, however, also requires our own participation – that is, repentance.
We do not rejoice at anyone’s downfall. Yet we hope that the former mayor – and all who took part in the unjust, uncanonical, and unlawful (as even the Patriarchal Synod has affirmed) deposition and suspension of Metropolitan Tychikos – will come to themselves and understand, while there is still time: "God is not mocked." The sacred canons vindicate themselves when they are trampled underfoot. Let them, then, set right the injustice done in Paphos.
To depose a shepherd from his pastoral ministry and – above all – to deprive a bishop of the right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy through a many-month, unjust and uncanonical suspension, undertaken to gratify personal passions, stubborn will, and aims alien to the Church’s spirit and to her good – all this exceeds the bounds of mere injustice and uncanonicity and stands on the very threshold of blasphemy against divine grace.
For in such a case, suspension and the prohibition of sacred ministry are nothing other than the silencing of divine grace within the people of God – and this for private, selfish motives. To rob the members of the Body of Christ of divine grace! How can an accidental synodal majority presume to hinder the operation of the grace of the Holy Spirit in episcopal ministry? How can canonical authority, given for the Church’s protection and her edification, be so grievously perverted? Do the guilty truly not understand that the words "Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm" apply also to Tychikos?
Do they not tremble before the judgment of God? Do they not see the scandal they lay upon the faithful? For if the abuse of power in civil society is a grave crime, then in the Church – which is the very life of grace – it is a sin immeasurably more dreadful.
May God enlighten us and grant us repentance...
