... and this is from the 'opinion' column of the same issue: Bishops are the Church’s worst enemy
THE DISHING of dirt has begun, signalling the official commencement of the campaign for the election of a new Archbishop. In the last few days we have read about a priest offering sexual favours to a young man (pictures were even published in Politis, for some inexplicable reason), of a conspiracy by the Holy Synod, allegedly, aimed at undermining the election prospects of the hot favourite, and of a bishop taking pensioners on excursions to win their support in the elections.
In Cyprus it is not atheists, non-Christians or even rivals of Orthodoxy who bring the Greek Orthodox Church into disrepute – it is the bishops themselves who seem incapable of behaving with any dignity or restraint.
Nobody could be surprised with what is happening given the bishops’ past record. The ruthlessness displayed in their efforts to destroy other bishops knows no bounds – it is an ‘anything goes’ game where everything is permitted – including the securing of false testimony.
In Greece, one man was sentenced to three years in prison for falsely claiming he had sexual relations with a Cyprus bishop. Interestingly, several bishops were quick to adopt this false testimony and use it against their colleague. Another bishop has been accused of spending hundreds of thousands of Church pounds to buy political support, while another was dismissed by colleagues as a national traitor. Brotherly love and compassion simply do not exist among the self-serving members of the Holy Synod.
With two months to go before the elections, the start of the mud-slinging was only a question of time. The pictures of a Limassol Bishopric archimandrite; allegedly (they may have been doctored) involved in a sexual act with a man was a perfect illustration of how the campaign will be conducted.
Their publication was clearly aimed at tarnishing the supposedly, sinful priest’s superior, Limassol Bishop Athanassios, who has been the victim of several muck campaigns conducted by his colleagues in the past. Who gave these pictures – that should have never been published – to the newspaper if not a rival bishop’s camp?
Do the candidates not realise that by dishing dirt they are hurting the standing of the Church much more than any of their rivals? People know that a bishop would be behind every mud-slinging episode looking to secure an electoral advantage.
Voters aren’t silly – actions like these could easily lead them to the conclusion that a bishop willing to stoop so low is unsuitable to be elected Archbishop. This is assuming that the Paphos bishop’s claim, that some of the people who would be voting in the election were of low intelligence, was incorrect.
With such bishops, it is a miracle that people still go to Church.
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