Deposed Paphos bishop Tychikos has been hospitalised in Athens while attempting to make his way back to Cyprus from Istanbul, where he had appealed against his dismissal at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that he is “facing a health problem” and as such underwent a series of tests and was subsequently admitted to hospital.

It was reported that Tychikos “did not feel well” while en route from Istanbul to Athens, and that any members of the Cyprus Holy Synod “who question or are concerned will be able to call the doctors to inform them”.

Archdiocese of Cyprus press spokesman Christos Efstathiou said that the Holy Synod and Archbishop Georgios had not been informed of Tychikos’ hospitalisation, and that had they been aware, they would have “constributed to his recovery”.

Tychikos had visited Istanbul to appeal against the Holy Synod’s decision to relieve him of his duties, though after his hearing there, his lawyer Evangelia Poulla described the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision as “unacceptable to say the least” and “inconceivable”.

“We have never seen such an unjust decision before,” she said.

Meanwhile, Efstathiou had said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s unanimity “gives its own message”.

The Holy Synod had on May 22 voted by a ten to six margin to ratify Tychikos’ removal from his official status after he was charged with various breaches of church protocol, including the showcasing an icon of a saint not canonised by the Church.

Church secretary Georgios Christodoulou said that “the Holy Synod decided that the aforementioned hierarchy shall remain a bishop of the Church of Cyprus and a member of the Holy Synod,” understood to mean he may retain the title, but that he has been relieved of his administrative duties.

The archbishop had previously clashed with Tychikos, notably over the latter’s refusal to allow the relic of Apostle Paul’s skull to be brought from the Vatican City to Cyprus on the principle that the late Pope Francis was “a heretic”.

The day after his dismissal, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos had said his municipality had had to suffer “trying and unbecoming behaviours” on Tychikos’ part for years.

Phedonos said Tychikos had taken the municipality to court “without the courtesy of informing” them, and that he had obstructed all communication between the municipality and the bishopric by locking offices and refusing to answer telephone calls.

The reason given for the stonewalling was a “spiritual retreat”, Phedonos added.