Chrysostomos I of Cyprus

Who was Chrysostomos I of Cyprus?

Archbishop Chrysostomos I, born as Christoforos Aristodimou was the Archbishop of Cyprus from 1977 to 2006. He was born in the village of Statos in Paphos, Cyprus. By the scholarship of Kykkos Monastery, where he served as a monk, he finished the Pancyprian Gymnasium in 1950 and he studied theology and literature in the University of Athens. He then returned to Kykkos Monastery and was ordained deacon in February 1951. In October 1961 he was ordained priest and returned to the Pancyprian Gymnasium where he taught theology for 5 years.

In 1968 he was elected bishop of Constantia before becoming Bishop of Paphos in July 1973. On 12 November 1977 he was elected Archbishop of Cyprus in succession to the late President and Archbishop of Cyprus, Makarios III who had died the same year.

In April 2000 he suffered a severe head injury when he fell from the staircase of the Archiepiscopal Palace and never recovered. In 2004 it became known that he suffered from Alzheimer's disease and he fell into a coma the following year.

He remained Head of the Church of Cyprus due to lack of legislation in church's laws for cases of incapacity.