CAPTION: Bishop Mike and his wife Rachel visited Salamis, where St Paul and Barnabus are said to have landed in Cyprus
Bishop Mike Reflects on Visit to Link Diocese of Cyprus & Gulf
“There is something about the solidarity of Christians around the globe who are supportive of one another and praying for one another – from whom we are learning and others are learning from us.
“It helps us to understand that this is a global faith, it’s something that goes way beyond anything parochial.”
Bishop Mike has been reflecting on his recent trip to the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, which has been in an official link with the Diocese of Exeter since 1984.
Part of the purpose of the visit was to ‘renew and reimagine’ the link.
Bishop Mike and his wife Rachel visited a number of Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches and cathedrals during their visit to Cyprus
The bishop and his wife Rachel spent a week in Cyprus as the guests of the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, the Rt. Rev’d Sean Semple.
During their trip they visited Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches in both the Greek and Turkish parts of the island, as well as visiting a number of historic biblical sites, including Salamis, where St Paul and St Barnabas first arrived on the island, and the nearby site of St Barnabas Monastery and tomb.
They also visited the 9th-century Church of St Lazarus, of whom it is said Barnabas and Mark consecrated him Bishop of Kition (Larnaca)—and that the church was built over his tomb.
Bishop Mike also preached at St Paul’s Anglican cathedral in Nicosia and went to the important Muslim holy site of Hala Sultan Tekke. The 18th-century Sufi mosque and lodge is the burial place of Umm Haram (Hala Sultan), a relative of the Prophet Muhammad.
The two bishops also discussed the opportunities and challenges facing the two dioceses and explored areas for future collaboration and ways in which we can support each other.
Bishop Mike is considering whether some form of pilgrimage to Cyprus might be possible, as well as possible opportunities for clergy to locum in Cypriot parishes.
Bishop Mike said “It is important to learn from dioceses in quite different cultures and contexts from our own. It enables us to step outside our own [situation] and understand some of the pushes and pulls on us here, that are quite different abroad.
Cyprus is one of nine countries in the diocese, which covers the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.
He said his visit to such a culturally diverse area had helped him learn about “The difficulty of ministering as Christian priests in a context that is so profoundly different in terms of its main faith.
“To minister in the Gulf you can’t evangelise in any open way. You can’t advertise particularly and yet there are over a million Christians in that part of the Gulf who are seeking services and pastoral care.
So, how to provide that and be accessible and available and approachable without crossing any of the red lines in those countries was one of the things I was learning about from the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf.”
Bishop Mike is planning to visit the Gulf in the next few years and also has visits planned to our other link diocese of Thika in Kenya in January 2026, as well as to the Diocese of Melanesia in the Pacific later next year.
Read the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf’s News Report about the visit.
