The Autocephaly of Cyprus

The Church of Cyprus is the oldest of the autocephalous Churches, and its independence rests on Barnabas. This file sets out the canonical and traditional charter of that independence: the eighth canon of the Council of Ephesus (431), which defended the Cypriot bishops against the claims of Antioch; the tradition that the finding of Barnabas’s relics under the Emperor Zeno (c. 478/488) clinched the autocephaly; and the three imperial privileges granted to the archbishop — presented as tradition, with the historical assessment.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)

The Claim of Antioch

In the fifth century, the great Patriarchate of Antioch sought to extend its jurisdiction over the Church of Cyprus, treating the island as part of its civil and ecclesiastical sphere. Antioch was the apostolic see of Syria, and the administrative ties of the Roman East gave it a plausible case that Cyprus, lying off the Syrian coast, fell within its orbit. The Cypriot bishops resisted, insisting that their Church had been self-governing from apostolic times — that it had been founded by the apostle Barnabas and had always ordained its own bishops without reference to Antioch (Hackett, History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, 1901). The dispute came to a head at the Third Ecumenical Council (on the principle at stake, see Autocephaly and Territory; on the rival see, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem).

The Eighth Canon of Ephesus (431)

The decisive canonical act is the eighth canon of the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. The Cypriot bishops brought their case before the Council, complaining that the bishop of Antioch was attempting to ordain in Cyprus contrary to the ancient custom. The Council ruled in their favor, decreeing that “the rulers of the holy churches in Cyprus shall enjoy, without dispute or injury, according to the canons of the blessed Fathers and ancient custom, the right of performing for themselves the ordination of their excellent bishops” — and laid down the general principle “that none of the God-beloved bishops shall assume control of any province which has not heretofore, from the very beginning, been under his own hand or that of his predecessors,” lest “the pride of worldly power” creep into the Church under the guise of priesthood (Council of Ephesus, 431, Canon 8; trans. in NPNF II/14, The Seven Ecumenical Councils). This canon is the foundational charter of Cypriot autocephaly and one of the earliest conciliar statements of the principle that ecclesiastical jurisdiction follows ancient custom and apostolic foundation, not the ambitions of a greater see. It rests, in the Cypriot understanding, on the apostolic foundation by Barnabas.

The Finding of the Relics and the Confirmation under Zeno

The conflict with Antioch did not end at Ephesus; it flared again later in the fifth century, when Peter the Fuller, patriarch of Antioch, renewed the claim over Cyprus. It is at this point that the celebrated tradition of the relic-finding enters as the decisive proof. According to the tradition, the apostle Barnabas appeared in a vision to Anthemios (Anthemius), archbishop of Cyprus, and revealed the location of his long-hidden grave near Salamis; the tomb was opened and the apostle’s relics were found, with a copy of the Gospel of Matthew (in the apostle’s own hand, by the tradition) lying upon his breast (Theodorus Lector, Ecclesiastical History, epitome; Hackett 1901; see The Finding of the Relics). Anthemios carried the relics and the Gospel-book to Constantinople and laid the Cypriot case before the Emperor Zeno (reigned 474–491). The finding of an apostle’s body on the island was taken as God’s own confirmation that Cyprus was an apostolic Church; Zeno convened a synod, which upheld the island’s independence against Antioch, and the autocephaly secured at Ephesus was thereby reconfirmed (Theodorus Lector; Hackett 1901). [Disputed: the date of the relic-finding is given by the sources as c. AD 478, and by some accounts c. 488; the difference reflects the varying chronologies of the Antiochene dispute and of Anthemios's episcopate (Hackett 1901; Theodorus Lector, *PG* 86)].

The Three Imperial Privileges

The tradition holds that, in gratitude and in token of the island’s apostolic dignity, the Emperor Zeno granted the archbishop of Cyprus three extraordinary privileges, normally reserved to imperial or patriarchal rank — privileges the archbishops of Cyprus retain to this day: to sign his name in red (cinnabar) ink, the vermilion of the imperial signature; to wear a purple cloak (a purple mandyas or under-robe) in place of the ordinary black; and to carry an imperial sceptre in place of the usual episcopal pastoral staff (crosier) (Hackett 1901; the standard Cypriot tradition). These three privileges are the visible marks of Cypriot autocephaly, and the Cypriot Church traces them directly to the relic-finding and the favor of Zeno. They function as a living memorial of the moment when, by the finding of Barnabas’s body, the island’s apostolic independence was sealed by the empire itself.

The Historical Assessment

The Orthodox handling of this dossier, per the repository methodology, distinguishes the firmly attested from the traditional and presents both with sourcing. The canonical fact is secure: the eighth canon of Ephesus (431) is a genuine conciliar act, preserved in the acts of the Council, and it really did affirm the right of the Cypriot bishops to ordain their own and resist Antioch (NPNF II/14). The relic-finding under Zeno is reported by Theodorus Lector and later Byzantine historians, and is received by the Church as the tradition of how the autocephaly was reconfirmed — but its particulars (the vision, the Gospel of Matthew on the breast, the exact date) are hagiographical tradition, not independently verifiable history, and the modern scholarly literature treats it as such: a foundation-narrative that served, and was very likely shaped by, the island’s case for independence against Antioch (Hackett 1901). The three privileges are a real and continuing feature of the Cypriot Church, but the tradition tracing them to Zeno’s personal grant is itself part of the legendary dossier, and scholars debate how early the privileges actually arose. None of this diminishes the autocephaly, which is canonically grounded at Ephesus and has been universally recognized for fifteen centuries; it simply locates each claim at its proper level of attestation — the canon as conciliar fact, the relic-finding and the privileges as venerable tradition. The Church of Cyprus thus stands as the oldest worked example of the canonical principle that an apostolic Church governs itself (see Autocephaly and Territory).

See Also

References

  • The Council of Ephesus (431), Canon 8. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 14 (The Seven Ecumenical Councils). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. (The right of the Cypriot bishops to ordain their own; the principle against jurisdictional encroachment.)
  • Theodorus Lector. Ecclesiastical History (epitome), on the finding of the relics under Anthemios and the confirmation by Zeno. In Patrologia Graeca 86.
  • Hackett, John. A History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. London: Methuen, 1901. (The autocephaly dispute, the relic-finding, the three privileges, and their assessment.)
  • The Synaxarion of the Orthodox Church, June 11. (The commemoration of the finding of the relics.)