ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

- CONTENT--
Archbishop Herman I Pisimander (died after 1274) is the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Archbishop of New Justiniana and all of Cyprus since 1254. On July 3, 1260, he was deprived of his powers, but he retained the title of archbishop until the end of his life.

Biography
George II, elected Archbishop of Cyprus in December 1251 by faithful bishops of the Roman Church, did not receive the approval of Pope Innocent IV and was not confirmed by him in office. After some time, the Cypriot bishops elected the new Cypriot Archbishop Herman I Pisimander. In protest against this election, the Augustinian Archbishop of Nicosia, Hugo di Fajano di Pisa, left Cyprus.

The next Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261) decided to finally abolish the autonomy of the Cyprus Orthodox Church and demanded that Archbishop Herman appear before the Archbishop of Nicosia to investigate certain economic issues of the Cypriot Orthodox Archdiocese. However, Archbishop Herman refused to appear before the Archbishop of Nicosia because he considered himself equal to the Catholic Archbishop, not subordinate to him. Herman went to Pope Alexander IV in Rome with three Orthodox bishops (Bishops Nifontus of Soleia, Joachim of Carpasia and Matthew of Lefkar). Pope Alexander IV received an Orthodox delegation and heard complaints about the oppression of the Cyprus Orthodox Church. Representatives of Archbishop Hugo di Faggiano of Nicosia also participated in these negotiations. The result of this meeting, which ended in failure for the Orthodox Cypriots, was the Cyprus Bull (Bulla Cypria or Constitutio Cypria), published on July 3, 1260, according to which the Cypriot Orthodox bishops, whose number was reduced from 14 to 4, were included in the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Nicosia, who was now to be sworn in. The post of Archbishop of the Cyprus Orthodox Church was also abolished. Archbishop Herman was left the archbishop’s title and a number of privileges for life.

There is practically no information about the further fate of Archbishop Herman I. Researchers identify with Herman I the Archbishop of Cyprus, who participated in the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, not named by name. The order of the Archbishop of Nicosia, drawn up shortly after the Council, containing a list of Cypriot Orthodox bishops, no longer mentions the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus.

Sources
Zoitakis, Athanasius, History of the Cyprus Orthodox Church during the period of Latin domination and Ottoman rule. // www.agionoros.ru

Archbishops of Cyprus