Chrysostomos II of Cyprus called the "Russian orthodox church of Northern Cyprus" fraudsters, saying that its existence was "unacceptable," as the so-called church was using buildings intended for refugees
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2019) Chrysostomos II of Cyprus called the "Russian orthodox church of Northern Cyprus" fraudsters, saying that its existence was "unacceptable," as the so-called church was using buildings intended for refugees.
On Monday, Cypriot and Greek media outlets reported that a "Russian orthodox church" had been opened in Kyrenia, a city in Northern Cyprus, which is occupied by Turkey. Media outlets said it was managed by a priest named Alexei Ivanov. Some of them hinted at the possibility that Moscow was behind the establishment of the church.
However, the Cyprus archbishop told the Sigma tv channel that the new church did not belong to the Russian Orthodox Church and called it a fraud.
"We consider their existence unacceptable because they live in houses belonging to refugees," Archbishop Chrysostomos said.
He said that he had a meeting with Russia's Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk over a month ago and that the topic of the illegal church in Northern Cyprus was raised at the talks.
"I said that we can do nothing because this is an occupation [by Turkey]," Chrysostomos stressed.
The press office of the Russian Embassy in Cyprus told Sputnik, for its part, that the so-called Russian church in the occupied part of Cyprus had nothing to do with the Russian Orthodox Church and was non-canonical.
The island has long been de facto divided into the Republic of Cyprus and the non-recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. In the 1970s, Ankara sent its troops to the island in response to an attempted coup by the Greek military. As a result, Turkey occupied nearly 40 percent of the country's territory, where the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed in 1983. Turkey has so far remained the only nation in the world that recognizes the republic as a sovereign state.
