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Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia. It is situated some seventy km from the coastline of Turkey, a hundred or so from that of Syria and five hundred from Egypt; it faces Lebanon and the Holy Land. Cyprus is a crossroads of history, of culture, and also of faith. The history of Cyprus is that of the apostle Paul and Barnabas, who was a native of the island and was one of the first Christians in Jerusalem; he was also present at the Council of Jerusalem. It is also the history of many Orthodox monasteries, rich in frescoes and icons, scattered all over the island. Some of them, situated in the Trodos Mountains, were inserted in UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites in 1985. A large part of the Christian tradition of Cyprus developed, after its origins, round the Byzantine tradition – for almost a millennium the island formed part of the Byzantine Empire – and hence round the Orthodox Church. So Cyprus also represents a powerful ecumenical sign, as testified by Father John Sansour, whom SIR met in recent days during a pilgrimage organized by Brevivet (Italy). “HERE IT’S HOLY LAND”. “Ecumenism? It’s a word that has no meaning, unless…”. So begins Father John Sansour, as he watches tourists and pilgrims entering the little church of Aya Kyriaky Chrysopolitissa in Paphos (Cyprus), famous for having, just outside its entrance, the column where, according to tradition, St. Paul was beaten after arriving in the island in 45 AD together with Barnabas in his first missionary journey. “Unless – continues the priest – it’s pronounced at the end of everything. Sansour is a Palestinian; he has lived in Cyprus since 1992. “Here it’s Holy Land”, he explains, “I’m a priest of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and here we’re in the diocese of the city holy to the three religions of the book”. The parish of Father Sansour is in actual fact a laboratory of ecumenism, “but I never use this term. Some Orthodox believers regard it with fear. There are those in the Orthodox Church who think that ecumenism means submission to the Catholic Church, but that’s not so”, he insists. “The term ecumenism has no meaning unless it is meant as the last page of a long process of dialogue, mutual love and esteem”. WELCOME GUESTS . The little church of Aya Kyriaky Chrysopolitissa belongs to the Orthodox Church, which since 1987-1988, thanks to the then local archbishop Chrisostomos, has granted it, together with a small cemetery, to the Latin Catholic and also to the Anglican community for their services and their worship. So Father Sansour is a guest in an Orthodox church, “but not an unwelcome guest, on the contrary”, he says. “We also have an agreement with the bishop of Paphos, Georgios, on mixed marriages (Catholic-Orthodox), on the basis of which future children will be able to be educated either in the Orthodox or in the Catholic faith, depending on whether their parents reside in Cyprus or not”. “Such agreements – says the priest – serve to increase mutual trust. When we get to know each other, we discover we are different but united by the Gospel. We find friends and are able to say to each other: I’m part of your Church and you of mine. But courage and humility are needed. Fear is a poor travelling companion”. Works speak for themselves. “My community consists of about 1000 persons of whom less than 200 are locals. The rest are immigrants of various nationalities, especially Poles and Germans. They include young people and pensioners. Each Sunday they animate mass, and during the week run a nursery school and two social centres. We have been working for some time to raise funds for the construction of a hostel for the terminally ill. We have young members who help with catechesis for children”. ANGLICANS TOO. The little 13th century church, built over the ruins of the largest basilica of the first Byzantine period (comprising no less than five aisles), is also the home of the small Anglican community, composed of only 180 faithful out of the 5000 who live in the region of Paphos. “The Anglicans – says Sansour – are struck when they see the universality of the Catholic Church. The fact that Cypriots, Chinese, Italians, Palestinians, French, Poles and Germans meet together to pray in this little church does not leave them indifferent. Some who are slowly drawing close to Catholicism”. “All denominations are welcome”, says a pink notice displayed in the glass case by the entrance. It was written by the Anglicans who, also in the name of the Catholics, add a “thank you” to the “Holy Orthodox Church of Cyprus and to His Grace the bishop of Paphos, Georgios, who has generously permitted us to use this beautiful church”. This is not an isolated case. At Larnaca and at Limassol the Catholic community has close links with the Orthodox community, a living application of the aims and principles enunciated in the Charta oecumenica of 2001, the outcome of the two European ecumenical assemblies in Basel (1989) and Graz (1997). Now the third such assembly at Sibiu in Romania is approaching (September 2007).