Deposed Paphos bishop demands warrant to have office searched

Deposed Paphos bishop Tychikos on Thursday said that the police cannot search his office at the bishopric without a warrant, after Archbishop Georgios informed him on Wednesday that officers would carry out a search of both his flat and office.

Conducting a search without first acquiring a warrant, he said, would “constitute an arbitrary act”, while he also said that the keys to the flat and the office, which the archbishop had demanded he return are “in the doors”.

He added that he keeps no personal belongings in either location, and that since he was relieved of his duties in May last year, he has been living elsewhere on the complex and not in the flat allocated to the bishop of the day.

The archbishop had ordered Tychikos to vacate the bishopric flat and hand over the keys to the bishopric on Thursday morning, and also informed him that the police will enter the flat and the bishop’s office “to record what is in there”.

Tychikos was deposed from his role in May last year, with the Holy Synod voting by a ten to six margin to ratify Tychikos’ removal from his official status after he was charged with various breaches of church protocol, including showcasing an icon of a saint not canonised by the church.

Church secretary Georgios Christodoulou said at the time that “the Holy Synod decided that the aforementioned hierarchy shall remain a bishop of the Church of Cyprus and a member of the Holy Synod,” understood to mean he may retain the title, but that he has been relieved of his administrative duties.

The archbishop had previously clashed with Tychikos, notably over the latter’s refusal to allow the relic of Apostle Paul’s skull to be brought from the Vatican City to Cyprus on the principle that the late Pope Francis was “a heretic”.

The day after his dismissal, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos had said his municipality had had to suffer “trying and unbecoming behaviours” on Tychikos’ part for years.

Phedonos said Tychikos had taken the municipality to court “without the courtesy of informing” them, and that he had obstructed all communication between the municipality and the bishopric by locking offices and refusing to answer telephone calls.

The reason given for the stonewalling was a “spiritual retreat”, Phedonos added.

Tychikos had then appealed against his dismissal at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but was unsuccessful in his appeal.