Same-sex wedding in the Metropolis of Paphos. Photo: balsamopsyxhs.gr
Reactions have erupted over the holding of a ceremony inside Minthis Resort. The historic monastery’s transfer to a private company and the transformation of the church into a “tourist attraction” are drawing criticism.
A photograph from a same-sex civil ceremony at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Cross of Minthis in Paphos has sparked a wave of online commentary, raising questions about the spiritual oversight of the site. The story highlights the monastery’s complicated status, as for years it has been incorporated into a luxury tourist resort after being handed over to a private real-estate development group.
The case brings to light the conflict between the religious identity of historic monuments and their commercialization within the tourism industry.
Posts on Facebook (link here) describe the event as blasphemous and as a distortion of Cyprus’s Orthodox identity, calling for intervention by the Holy Synod and Parliament. The monastery was reportedly “granted” many years ago, during the tenure of Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Paphos (Herodotos Demetriou), to the Pafilia Property Developers group. Today, it forms part of Minthis Resort, where the church is advertised as a venue for “holistic experiences,” alongside golf courses and yoga activities.
Pafilia reportedly maintains strong ties with Israel. It is noted that in 2022 the Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus, Oren Anolik, visited the resort and the monastery, which was described as “an integral part of the resort’s authenticity.”
A commentary accompanying the report on balsamopsyxhs.gr states that the monastery, once a free Orthodox institution, has been transformed into an “economic resource” and a tool for promoting lifestyles that conflict with church tradition.
The Monastery of the Holy Cross of Minthis is a historic monument that in the past was cared for by important Metropolitans of Paphos, including Joachim and Saint Panaretos.
For a long time, credible voices in Cyprus have claimed that economic interests lie behind the persecution of Metropolitan Tychikos of Paphos. Whether this is true, and to what extent, remains unclear. However, it appears that Metropolitan Tychikos attempted to put a stop to the “blasphemous situation” he inherited. One could speak of many dissatisfied clients who pay to indulge their preferences, as well as dissatisfied investors—mainly from Israel—who want their investments to generate maximum profit.
Therefore, the claims that economic interests are behind the persecution of Metropolitan Tychikos may not be unfounded. Ecumenical ideas are presented as highly compatible with an open economy, unlike traditional Orthodox values, which respect sacred spaces and do not “sell them off to mammon.”
Who, in their right mind, the commentary asks, cannot understand the many implications and the enormous damage caused by the photographs of the “fake wedding” seen outside the Orthodox church of the monastery?
This is described as a loud warning bell for the people of Paphos and all Cypriots. Today, they are said to be resisting not only the unjust persecution of a hierarch, but also defending Orthodoxy in their homeland and the future of their local Church.
Earlier, the EOD had written about the “Vindication of Metropolitan Tychikos and the Restoration of the Truth.”
Did they also sprinkle 30 pieces of silver in addition to dirt and oil just before Chrysostomos was interred?
“Privatization” of a monastery to “secular investors” will never yield “spiritual results”…
The bigger question is…how many more Church buildings have been “secularized” in Cyprus and elsewhere?
So sad!
Is this a monastery or not? There is no reason for this to have happened. A church or a monastery should be in the hands of the Church. It is long past time the Church made it clear that the purposeof Churches and Monasteries is to serve the Divine Liturgy.
Churches are not businesses. When they are used for secular purposes, this is what can happen. The church needs to control its Churches and Monasteries.
Another outrage among the Greek Churches.
Nick, why digitize their faces? Let the world see who they are.
I wish I could find their photo… I picked this one from another post.
A loving, all-mighty God gave each and every one of us Free Will.
And He told us He will judge us for how we use that will.
A person could mount the chandelier in a cathedral naked and throw his poop at others. What would that prove?! A puerile mind has a need to defy others to show he can do whatever he pleases, others be damned.
Am I equating this with what two selfish sodomists did at a monestery?? I guess I am.
This story just makes my heart hurt. Whoever in the Church of Cyprus allowed this to happen and continues to allow this to happen in a historical Orthodox Monastery should be full of shame. I can’t imagine who thought this was a good idea.
I hate to even think this but I wonder if the continuing occupation of Cyprus is at least part chastisement from God. From I read lately it seems like nothing good comes from the ancient Church of Saint Barbara’s. Just greed and filth.