Church of Cyprus leader dies, succession battle begins

Priests conduct a liturgy over the coffin of late Archbishop Chrysostomos II at the Apostolos Varnavas Cathedral in Nicosia, on Monday. The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus was 81 years old. His succession is being closely followed in Greece and elsewhere, as the Church of Cyprus has been roughly divided into a ‘pro-West’ and a ‘pro-Russia’ camp since its 2020 recognition of Ukrainian autocephaly, which Moscow opposed. In Cyprus, all registered Greek Orthodox Christians can vote, and this includes a sizable population of 30,000 Russians. The final vote lies with the Holy Synod, which will pick a new leader from the top three candidates to emerge from the popular vote. [Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters]