Makarios I () was

Archbishop of Cyprus The Archbishop of Cyprus (officially the Archbishop of Erdek, Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus) is the head of the Church of Cyprus. The incumbent Archbishop is George of Cyprus (archbishop of Cyprus), George of Cyprus since 2023. History Acco ...

from 1854 until 1865.

Biography

He was born in the village of Prodromos,

Ottoman Cyprus The Eyalet of Cyprus (, ''Eyālet-i Ḳıbrıṣ'') was an eyalet/province of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which was annexed into the Empire in 1571. The Ottomans changed the way they administered Cyprus multiple times. It ...

, and his original surname was Christodoulides (). He started his religious studies at Trooditissa Monastery and was later transferred to

Kykkos Monastery Kykkos Monastery ( or [] for short, ), which lies 20 km west of Pedoulas, is one of the wealthiest and best-known monastery, monasteries in Cyprus. The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by ...

. He was ordained deacon in 1823, two years after the

Greek Revolution The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

and the massacres of 9 July. He served as deacon in Paphos diocese, later he served as deacon to Archbishop of Cyprus Panaretos and subsequent Archbishops, Ioannikios and Kyrillos I. He was ordained Archbishop on 26 August 1854 succeeding Kyrillos I who had died a month earlier. For his days, thanks to the

Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856 The Imperial Reform Edict (, ''Islâhat Hatt-ı Hümâyûnu''; Modern ) was a February 18, 1856 edict of the Ottoman government and part of the Tanzimat reforms. The decree from Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I promised equality in education, go ...

, he managed to rise and sound the bell for the first time in the Turkish-occupied Nicosia, in the cathedral of St. John. He made sure that the religious duties of the clergy were guaranteed, while he was the first Archbishop to gain the right to participate in the general board of the island. He repaired the Archbishop's building (1862–1863), rebuilt the Grand Synod and completed the final picture of the Archbishop's building complex until the changes that took place in the past century. Makarios was instrumental in the establishment of many schools throughout rural Cyprus to combat illiteracy. In 1857 he founded the Faneromeni School, the first school for girls on the island. He also sought to have the tax burden eased by written requests to

Kâmil Pasha Mehmed Kâmil Pasha (; , "Mehmed Kâmil Pasha the Cypriot"), also spelled as Kâmil Pasha (1833 – 14 November 1913), was an Ottoman Anglophile statesman and liberal politician of Turkish Cypriot origin in the late-19th-century and early-20th ...

the

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

who was himself a Cypriot. Makarios died in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

on 4 August 1865 from

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

, after refusing to leave the city when an epidemic broke out.

References

Year of birth missing Archbishops of Cyprus Greek Cypriots Eastern Orthodox Christians from Cyprus Deaths from cholera 1865 deaths {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub