Religion in Cyprus, with the census figures

Religion is visible in Cyprus the moment you leave your hotel, in the church of every village, the icons in shop windows and a calendar of feast days that doesn’t match ours. Here’s which religions there are, with the 2021 census figures, and how it affects your trip. The communities living on the island are also covered in the population of Cyprus.

A mainly Orthodox island

The Spanish foreign ministry sums it up in a line. Religion is mainly Orthodox among Greek Cypriots and Muslim among Turkish Cypriots, and there are Armenian, Maronite and Latin-rite Catholic minorities, all officially recognised. CYSTAT’s 2021 census, which only covers the government-controlled area, bears it out. Of 923,381 people, 688,075 described themselves as Orthodox Christians, 74.5%. Leave out the 159,835 who didn’t answer and it’s nine in ten.

Next come Muslims, with 19,534, Roman Catholics, with 13,860, and Anglicans and Protestants, with 9,621. The census also counts 9,591 people of no religion, 7,868 Buddhists, 4,486 Maronites, 2,260 Sikhs, 2,025 members of the Armenian Church and 1,681 Hindus. There are no official Republic figures for the north. That side holds some of the island’s most significant religious sites, such as St Barnabas Monastery, beside the tomb tradition gives to the apostle, the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque, a cathedral until 1571, and Apostolos Andreas Monastery, at the tip of Karpas.

The three recognised minorities

Armenians, Maronites and Latins are small in number but carry a curious political weight. Each picks its own member of the House, entitled to speak in debates though not to vote. It strikes me as a very Cypriot arrangement, and I go into it in the political system of Cyprus.

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Churches you can visit, and that are used

The best way to get close to religion in Cyprus is to visit its churches. The ten painted churches of the Troodos are World Heritage, and UNESCO stresses that they’re living monuments, still used for worship and free to enter. Inside they’re covered in Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting, and stepping into one as somebody lights a candle stays with you.

When visiting, I’d cover shoulders and knees, carry a scarf and go in quietly. If there’s a service on, it’s better not to take photos. My favourites are ranked in UNESCO World Heritage in Cyprus.

To see it on the ground, Paphos has St Paul’s Pillar at Agia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa and the Paphos Byzantine Museum, and its district the monasteries of Agios Neophytos and Chrysorrogiatissa. In the east there are the Ayia Napa monastery, the Cyclops Cave by the chapel of Agioi Anargyroi, the Profitis Ilias church in Protaras and the churches of Sotira and Frenaros.

Religious feasts and public holidays

The calendar follows the Orthodox Church, which is why Easter rarely matches the UK’s. Going by the list Cyprus sent to the European Medicines Agency, Orthodox Easter 2027 brings three holidays, Friday 30 April, Sunday 2 May and Monday 3 May. Clean Monday, on 15 March in 2027, and Holy Spirit Day, on 21 June, are holidays too.

If you travel around those dates, expect offices to close and villages to come alive. Every holiday for 2026 and 2027, and what it means for your trip, is in public holidays in Cyprus.

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If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Kakopetria for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.