Supreme Court rejects Metropolitan Tychikos’s request for supplementary affidavit

The Supreme Court of Cyprus has rejected an application by the suspended Metropolitan Tychikos to submit a supplementary affidavit in his ongoing legal challenge against the Holy Synod. Tychikos is seeking to annul the Church's February 8, 2026 decision to impose an indefinite suspension on him. His legal requests include a certiorari order to annul the suspension, a mandamus order to compel the disclosure of evidence used against him, and a prohibition order to halt the selection process for a new Metropolitan of Paphos. The supplementary affidavit aimed to introduce information regarding an unsuccessful appeal he filed with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was rejected on March 12, 2026. The Court ruled that these new facts were not substantively relevant to the specific technical issues of his pending legal applications. Church spokesperson Christos Efstathiou stated that the ruling confirms the independence of ecclesiastical governance from civil courts. The Church plans to proceed after Easter with a restructured charter that would allow the Holy Synod to elect a new Metropolitan of Paphos directly, bypassing the traditional election of a three-person shortlist.