Archbishop hits back at claims of political campaigning
By Elias Hazou
ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos II has dismissed as an outright lie the notion he is rooting for incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in the upcoming presidential elections.
The outspoken Prelate has once again taken centre stage, after recently commenting that he preferred the status quo on Cyprus as the “second best solution”.
This, coupled with a remark he made a while back – when he said outright that the ruling DIKO party best expressed the Church on national issues – has sparked speculation that Chrysostomos is in cahoots with the President.
The Archbishop has also invited criticism after recent allegations that he tried to influence Mega TV channel to adopt a pro-Papadopoulos stance in the run-up to the elections.
The Church has a sizeable stake in Mega, previously known as Logos.
According to the same reports, a few weeks ago the top cleric barged into the premises of the station, interrupting a meeting of executives to lay out his demands.
Chrysostomos is also said to have gone so far as name two journalists whom the station should hire as anchor men.
But his overtures were summarily rejected by the Greek owners of the company, who threatened to pull the plug on their Cyprus operations if the Archbishop had his way.
Meanwhile daily Politis on Sunday ran a story suggesting that the Archbishop was doing far more than just identify with President Papadopoulos. The article claimed that Chrysostomos has been tasked with saying things in public which the President espouses but does not dare say himself for fear of the backlash.
In other words, the paper said the Archbishop had taken on the role of chief campaign staffer for Papadopoulos.
Commenting on the Politis report, Chrysostomos issued an unequivocal denial:
“Nothing could be further from the truth. I respect all the [presidential] candidates,” he told newsmen.
However, the head of the Church stressed that he was unafraid to speak his mind.
“We have always had the courage to take a stand, and if someone were to stray from the true path, we would certainly let them know that we disagree,” a defiant Chrysostomos said.
While the official Church would refrain from supporting any of the candidates, he said, it reserved the right to support “a certain line, which will be the Church’s line”.
“In other words, those who follow the line of the Church are with us,” he added.
Asked whether any of the presidential candidates fell outside this line, the Archbishop offered a diplomatic response:
“They are all known to us and friends, and we await to see their [election] programme, their views.”
Politis also hinted that Chrysostomos had taken on the mantle of diplomat, promoting the government’s foreign policy abroad.
According to the Cypriot ambassador to the Vatican, which the paper quoted, the Archbishop made quite an impression on Pope Benedict XVI when they met a few months ago.
In fact, the ambassador said, so influential was Chrysostomos that the Vatican subsequently took on a harsher stance on Turkey’s EU accession.
As a side note, the ambassador mentioned that the latest miracle of San Gennaro of Naples was attributed to the intercession of Chrysostomos.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
The Turkish army V's The Greek church
28 posts
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The Turkish army V's The Greek church
by zan » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:27 pm
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zan - Leading Contributor
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by Chimera » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:43 pm
Zan, you are hot tonight. 
Seems to me you are courting the church an awful lot.
Was it next on your hit list
How about as rational, enlightened humans, we ignore the church/islam isues because they should not figure in our secular vision of the political situation. We are above the God-believers
Or,are you constantly trying to cloud issues, 'cos I have figured you for the retrograde you are. I think
Seems to me you are courting the church an awful lot.
Was it next on your hit list
How about as rational, enlightened humans, we ignore the church/islam isues because they should not figure in our secular vision of the political situation. We are above the God-believers
Or,are you constantly trying to cloud issues, 'cos I have figured you for the retrograde you are. I think
- Chimera
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by zan » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:49 pm
Chimera wrote:Zan, you are hot tonight.
Seems to me you are courting the church an awful lot.
Was it next on your hit list
How about as rational, enlightened humans, we ignore the church/islam isues because they should not figure in our secular vision of the political situation. We are above the God-believers
Or,are you constantly trying to cloud issues, 'cos I have figured you for the retrograde you are. I think
Where did I mention Islam in all of this???
I think you get the point I am trying to make and it has really been made by the article it self.
On the other thing...I advise you not to think too much. Why start now!!!!!
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by zan » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:56 pm
Chimera wrote:So, I have to suspend thinking whilst I am communicating
with you, Zan
That has been evident in all your posts to me mate so why ask....
No one else will speak to me tonight..That is why you are even being acknowledged.....
Seems they are all concerned about their stomachs..The food section is getting hot
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by zan » Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:02 pm
Archbishop: I won’t keep quiet about politics
By Jean Christou
THE Church does not intend to keep quiet about politics, Archbishop Chrysostomos II said yesterday following new criticisms over his alleged support for President Tassos Papadopoulos.
One newspaper reported yesterday that the Church hierarchy was angered that the new Archbishop was appearing in so many photographs with the President. It is the third time recently that the Archbishop has come under fire over his politics in the run-up to the presidential elections.
He allegedly had a run-in with Greece’s Mega channel, which ultimately denied the reports that Chrysostomos had tried to push the station to promote the policies of Papadopoulos ahead of next year’s elections.
The Church has a sizeable stake in Mega, previously known as Logos.
Yesterday, the Archbishop said that far from keeping quiet about politics it fully intended to express his opinions about the presidential candidates and the Cyprus problem because the political issue was the “epicentre of the elections”.
“The Church is interested in the national issue and because of this we will look at the programmes of all the candidates for the presidency and their statements and we will form our own opinions,” he told CyBC radio.
“The Church will not close its mouth and leave things to develop.”
Asked yesterday about the allegations of his interference in Mega, he said that under the contact with the Greek channel, the station must follow the Church’s politics and not the company’s own politics.
“It is unthinkable that the station created by the Church could oppose the Church’s positions,” he said.
Recently, the Archbishop dismissed as an outright lie the notion he was rooting for Papadopoulos following a story in Politis suggesting that the Archbishop was doing far more than just identify with President Papadopoulos. It claimed Chrysostomos had been tasked with saying things in public which the President espouses but does not dare say himself for fear of a backlash.
The Archbishop responded that he respected all of the candidates but was not afraid to speak his mind when necessary. While the official Church would refrain from supporting any of the candidates, he said, it reserved the right to support “a certain line, which will be the Church’s line”.
Meanwhile, Papadopoulos was asked on Sunday to comment on Turkish press reports saying he would have a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat at the end of this month. He did not deny that such a meeting might take place.
“I believe that what is important, is not the meeting itself, but rather the stance of those who will participate in the meeting as well as what will be discussed,” he said.
The two leaders were due to meet last month but Talat pulled out at the last minute blaming the government for the fact that an English football team had withdrawn from a friendly with a Turkish Cypriot team.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
The result
Ankara cancels Istanbul visit by archbishop of Cyprus
It is the second time in four months the visit is cancelled. Chrysostomos and the ecumenical patriarch were set to meet in May for strictly religious purposes. Religious minorities are concerned. Archbishop of Cyprus says: “Ankara has shown its real face.”
Istanbul (AsiaNews) – For the second time in four months, Ankara has cancelled a visit by the new Greek-Orthodox archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos, to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, set for August 17 to the 21. The Turkish government cancelled the strictly religious visit for the first time in May. At the time the authorities justified their action saying that it might have political consequences on the electoral campaign. But the latest decision is worrying minority communities very much since outgoing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a strong supporter of Turkey’s membership in the European Union and hence a guarantor of religious minority rights in the country, won a victory in the July elections.
Interviewed by a Greek radio station, Chrysostomos said that “Turkey has the right to prevent anyone from entering into its territory despite those, like us, who want to believe that it wishes to show a democratic and liberal face, not only in Europe but also in the rest of the world.” With this decision however “the government in Ankara has shown its real face.”
Although “it was initially felt that it was better not to go any further,” the archbishop announced instead his “intention to send a letter to the Holy See and the World Council of Churches to inform them of what has happened.” Hopefully, this way it will “be possible to make the international community aware of the unreliability of the Turkish government in matters of rights.”
The archbishop of Cyprus also announced that he would meet the ecumenical patriarch at another time and place to express his “solidarity” and thank him “for his contribution to solving some of the many problems that have risen within the Greek-Orthodox Church.”
Chrysostomos reiterated that there “are no differences between Greek-Orthodox [Cypriots] and their Muslim Turkish-Cypriot brothers.” The real problem lies “in Ankara’s meddling which has blocked every attempt to integrate the two communities on the basis of mutual respect.” (NT)
By Jean Christou
THE Church does not intend to keep quiet about politics, Archbishop Chrysostomos II said yesterday following new criticisms over his alleged support for President Tassos Papadopoulos.
One newspaper reported yesterday that the Church hierarchy was angered that the new Archbishop was appearing in so many photographs with the President. It is the third time recently that the Archbishop has come under fire over his politics in the run-up to the presidential elections.
He allegedly had a run-in with Greece’s Mega channel, which ultimately denied the reports that Chrysostomos had tried to push the station to promote the policies of Papadopoulos ahead of next year’s elections.
The Church has a sizeable stake in Mega, previously known as Logos.
Yesterday, the Archbishop said that far from keeping quiet about politics it fully intended to express his opinions about the presidential candidates and the Cyprus problem because the political issue was the “epicentre of the elections”.
“The Church is interested in the national issue and because of this we will look at the programmes of all the candidates for the presidency and their statements and we will form our own opinions,” he told CyBC radio.
“The Church will not close its mouth and leave things to develop.”
Asked yesterday about the allegations of his interference in Mega, he said that under the contact with the Greek channel, the station must follow the Church’s politics and not the company’s own politics.
“It is unthinkable that the station created by the Church could oppose the Church’s positions,” he said.
Recently, the Archbishop dismissed as an outright lie the notion he was rooting for Papadopoulos following a story in Politis suggesting that the Archbishop was doing far more than just identify with President Papadopoulos. It claimed Chrysostomos had been tasked with saying things in public which the President espouses but does not dare say himself for fear of a backlash.
The Archbishop responded that he respected all of the candidates but was not afraid to speak his mind when necessary. While the official Church would refrain from supporting any of the candidates, he said, it reserved the right to support “a certain line, which will be the Church’s line”.
Meanwhile, Papadopoulos was asked on Sunday to comment on Turkish press reports saying he would have a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat at the end of this month. He did not deny that such a meeting might take place.
“I believe that what is important, is not the meeting itself, but rather the stance of those who will participate in the meeting as well as what will be discussed,” he said.
The two leaders were due to meet last month but Talat pulled out at the last minute blaming the government for the fact that an English football team had withdrawn from a friendly with a Turkish Cypriot team.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
The result
Ankara cancels Istanbul visit by archbishop of Cyprus
It is the second time in four months the visit is cancelled. Chrysostomos and the ecumenical patriarch were set to meet in May for strictly religious purposes. Religious minorities are concerned. Archbishop of Cyprus says: “Ankara has shown its real face.”
Istanbul (AsiaNews) – For the second time in four months, Ankara has cancelled a visit by the new Greek-Orthodox archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos, to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, set for August 17 to the 21. The Turkish government cancelled the strictly religious visit for the first time in May. At the time the authorities justified their action saying that it might have political consequences on the electoral campaign. But the latest decision is worrying minority communities very much since outgoing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a strong supporter of Turkey’s membership in the European Union and hence a guarantor of religious minority rights in the country, won a victory in the July elections.
Interviewed by a Greek radio station, Chrysostomos said that “Turkey has the right to prevent anyone from entering into its territory despite those, like us, who want to believe that it wishes to show a democratic and liberal face, not only in Europe but also in the rest of the world.” With this decision however “the government in Ankara has shown its real face.”
Although “it was initially felt that it was better not to go any further,” the archbishop announced instead his “intention to send a letter to the Holy See and the World Council of Churches to inform them of what has happened.” Hopefully, this way it will “be possible to make the international community aware of the unreliability of the Turkish government in matters of rights.”
The archbishop of Cyprus also announced that he would meet the ecumenical patriarch at another time and place to express his “solidarity” and thank him “for his contribution to solving some of the many problems that have risen within the Greek-Orthodox Church.”
Chrysostomos reiterated that there “are no differences between Greek-Orthodox [Cypriots] and their Muslim Turkish-Cypriot brothers.” The real problem lies “in Ankara’s meddling which has blocked every attempt to integrate the two communities on the basis of mutual respect.” (NT)
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by Pyrpolizer » Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:10 pm
zan wrote:I think you get the point I am trying to make and it has really been made by the article it self.
Which of course you are unable to even put down in a line or two.
What's your point Zan? Do you still live in the 50s when the TCs would by just hearing "Church" instantly start searching their asses for scorpions?
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by zan » Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:29 pm
Pyrpolizer wrote:zan wrote:I think you get the point I am trying to make and it has really been made by the article it self.
Which of course you are unable to even put down in a line or two.
What's your point Zan? Do you still live in the 50s when the TCs would by just hearing "Church" instantly start searching their asses for scorpions?
Does every thread have to be turned into MSN conversation
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