Kingdom of Cyprus to take Cyprus back. King Richard took them up on the offer and the Templars returned to Syria, retaining but a few holdings on the island. A small minority Roman Catholic population of the island was mainly confined to some coastal cities, such as Famagusta, as well as inland Nicosia, the traditional capital. Roman Catholics kept the reins of power and control, while the Orthodox inhabitants lived in the countryside; this was much the same as the arrangement in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The independent Eastern Orthodox Church of Cyprus, with its own archbishop and subject to no patriarch, was
Roman Cyprus king of the Pafian kingdom. It wasn't until the second century that the city grew in importance and became the capital of Roman Cyprus. The earliest account of Pafos as the capital of the island actually comes from "The Acts of the Apostles" in the New Testament, where Paul and Barnabas stayed to preach to Sergius Paulus, who then converted to Christianity. Roman Pafos reached its golden age under the Severan Dynasty (and it is attested that there was even an imperial cult to Septimius Severus). Nea Pafos is not to be confused with Palaipafos ("Old Pafos"). However, it is