Church of Cyprus

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Archbishop Palace in Nicosia

The Church of Cyprus ( Greek Εκκλησία της Κύπρου , English Church of Cyprus ) is the Orthodox Church in Cyprus . According to their own understanding, it was founded on the island by the apostles Paul of Tarsus and Barnabas in the year 45. It is regarded as one of the churches of the seven councils of the Orthodox Church, a legally independent, but in full communion standing church with common to the seven ecumenical councils between the first and the second Council of Nicaea defined theology and essentially common liturgy, but different Languages. The church is divided into an archbishopric , five metropolises and eleven monasteries. The headquarters of the church administration is in Nicosia .

history

The Council of Ephesus (3rd Ecumenical Council), which took place in AD 431 in the city ​​of Ephesus in Asia Minor , declared the Church of Cyprus to be autocephalous . A little later the Byzantine Emperor granted the Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus very extensive rights for the time. The archbishop was allowed to carry a scepter instead of a shepherd's staff .

After an eventful history, Makarios III succeeded. , Archbishop and Ethnarch of Cyprus from 1950 to 1977 , to lead the island out of British rule in the early 1960s and to consolidate the power of the Church in Cyprus - he was elected the first head of state of independent Cyprus. He exercised spiritual and secular office in parallel until his death in 1977. As before, the church is said to have great political influence. From 2002 the church rejected the peace plan of the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for the reunification of the Turkish and Greek parts of the island and called it the work of the devil.

The current metropolitan is Chrysostomos II (Englistriotis), who has been Archbishop of New Justinianopolis and the whole of Cyprus since November 2006, succeeding Chrysostomos I.

capital

The Cyprus Church is the largest owner of real estate in Cyprus, which was held together by centuries of foreign rule. During the Ottoman rule , the Church in Cyprus was responsible for collecting taxes.

National debt crisis in the euro area

At the beginning of the Cypriot financial crisis , the church held shares in numerous companies on the island, such as the television station Mega TV, in the Vassiliko cement factory, in hotels and apartments and around 20 percent of the beverage bottler KEO . The assets are estimated at a few tens of millions of euros. The Orthodox Church in Cyprus enjoys special tax privileges. In 2012, an agreement was reached with the government that the Church would pay taxes on future property transactions. The Orthodox Church owns around a quarter of the shares in Hellenic Bank , the third largest bank in Cyprus. In December 2012, the Church also held 3% of the largest Cypriot bank, the Bank of Cyprus .

After the rejection of the required levy on bank deposits for the 10 billion aid package from the ESM crisis fund on March 19, 2013 by the Cypriot parliament, Archbishop Chrysostomos II offered at a meeting with President Nikos Anastasiades : “The entire wealth of the Church is there Land available so that we can stand on our own two feet and not on those of foreigners. ”Parliament's no to the EU bailout package is a“ strong message that we cannot be fooled, ”he said. Chrysostomus II did not want to estimate the exact value of the church property, but offered to take out a mortgage on their property in order to enable the purchase of government bonds . Days earlier he had called for an exit from the euro zone with nationalistic undertones . After the agreement on a rescue package for the Cypriot financial system, Chrysostomus II announced on March 25, 2013 that the church expected losses of 100 million euros. The Hellenic Bank, in which the church owns major shares, was not affected by the restructuring measures.

Holy Synod of Cyprus

The Holy Synod is according to information currently 17 members; the number has changed several times in the last few years and decades:

as well as the

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See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vatican Radio: Cyprus: Orthodox Church supports the state. March 20, 2013, accessed March 22, 2013.
  2. ^ Associated Press: Cyprus church strikes tax deal with government. March 14, 2012, accessed March 22, 2013.
  3. ^ Spiegel Online: Archbishop Chrysostomos: The head of the Cyprus church calls for the exit from the euro. March 23, 2013, accessed March 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Financial Mirror: Church of Cyprus vs. Troika. December 1, 2012: The Church's stake in Hellenic Bank was 16.4% in December 2012.
  5. ↑ Jannis Brühl: Cyprus's banks will be closed until Tuesday. In: Sueddeutsche Zeitung. March 20, 2013, accessed March 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ Spiegel Online: bank resolution on Cyprus: Church threatens loss of hundreds of millions of euros. March 25, 2013, accessed March 26, 2013.