Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrived in Cyprus to deliver the funeral speech for Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos II.
Patriarch Bartholomew arrived at the old Larnaca Airport at 10:45 in a chartered flight from Constantinople. He immediately left for Nicosia where he will lead the funeral service of Archbishop of New Justinian and All Cyprus Chrysostomos II at the Apostolos Varnavas Cathedral.
The Ecumenical Patriarch was welcomed by Bishop Georgios of Paphos, who under church rules is the caretaker of the Archbishopric throne until a new election, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, and George Christodoulou, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod.
The arrival of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Cyprus, 400 years after the last visit of an Ecumenical Patriarch to the island, is seen as historic and bearing important messages.