page_title: Church of Cyprus
section_title: Crusader era
hierarchical_section_title: Church of Cyprus / History of the church / Crusader era
caption_attribution_description: English: Arcade of Agia Napa Monastery
context_page_description: The Church of Cyprus is one of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Churches that together with other Eastern Orthodox Churches form the communion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is one of the oldest Eastern Orthodox autocephalous churches, achieving independence from the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East in 431. The bishop of the ancient capital, Salamis was constituted metropolitan by Emperor Zeno, with the title archbishop.
context_section_description: After the establishment of the Kingdom of Cyprus, the Catholic kings gradually reduced the number of Orthodox bishops from 14 to 4 and forced those away from their towns. The archbishop was moved from Nicosia to the region of Solia, near Morphou, the bishop of Larnaca was moved to the village of Lefkara etc. Each Orthodox bishop was under the Catholic bishop of the area. The Catholic Church tried on occasion to coax the Orthodox bishops to make concessions on the differences in doctrine and practices between the two churches, sometimes with threats and sometimes using violence and torture, as in the case of the 13 monks at Kantara monastery. Moreover, the properties of many monasteries were confiscated. The persecutions, especially during the Frankish period, did not succeed in uprooting the faith of the Greek Cypriots.
  Despite initial frictions, the two churches gradually managed to coexist side by side peacefully. The local Orthodox Christians shared some of the benefits of the economic development of Cyprus and especially Famagusta at the time. The Orthodox cathedral of St George (known as Saint George of the Greeks – today in ruins) is almost as high and monumental as the nearby Catholic cathedral of St Nicholas (a mosque since 1571), and is also an example of an interesting fusion of gothic and Byzantine architecture.
  The Franks were succeeded by the Venetians in 1489 without any significant change to the status of the Orthodox Church.
caption: Ayia Napa Monastery
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