DISGRACED archimandrite Andreas Constantinides went back on the allegations warpath yesterday, threatening to “expose” bishops and priests unless the Holy Synod lifted his suspension for leading a campaign to label Bishop Athanassios of Limassol gay.
It took the convening of a Major Synod in Nicosia last November to clear the Bishop of Limassol of the allegations and put an end to a scandal that had rocked the local Church for months.
The local Synod is due to meet at the Nicosia archbishopric this morning, and a review of the indefinite suspensions imposed on Constantinides and fellow Limassol archimandrite Chrysostomos Argyrides last October is expected to be on the agenda.
Constantinides upped the ante on the eve of the Synod session, threatening to ‘tell all’ about what he said was the part played by bishops and other clergy in last year’s sustained attack on Bishop Athanassios.
“If they do not end my suspension I will be forced – and I stress that this is not a threat – but I will end my silence, because some things have been misunderstood,” the archimandrite told state radio CyBC.
Constantinides, who was suspended for slandering Bishop Athanassios, was seen as the ‘front-man’ in a campaign to oust the Limassol Bishop that most observers agreed was engineered by the Bishop of Paphos Chrysostomos and his close ally, Arsinoi Bishop Georgios.
But the banned archimandrite claimed other bishops and priests had been behind the anti-Athanassios campaign. “People think the Bishops of Paphos and Arsinoe were behind all this, but this is not how things are, it was other clerics who wanted [Athanassios out] and gave me information about witnesses,” Constantinides said.
The Major Synod dismissed the claims of male witnesses who claimed they had had sex with Bishop Athanassios. Some of these witnesses were later imprisoned for false testimony against Athanassios, while Constantinides and Argyrides also ended up in court on similar charges. Attorney-general Alecos Markides later suspended the trial of the two archimandrites.
Constantinides yesterday said both he and Argyrides had had enough of being Church outcasts. “From our side, the cup of patience has overflowed. We have had enough, we are facing financial, social and spiritual problems and I think it is unjust for this hassle to continue. We have not been paid since last November. We have a small allowance from the Church that does not even cover the interests on our debts,” he said.
The archimandrite launched a fresh attack on Athanassios, saying the Bishop was blacklisting any Limassol clerics who were friendly towards Constantinides.
The renegade archimandrite also said the gap between the pro and anti-Athanassios factions within the Church had not narrowed since the Major Synod vindicated the popular Limassol Bishop.
Church observers saw the ‘gay Bishop’ allegations as a manifestation of a major clash between revivalist and traditionalist forces within the Church, represented by Bishop Athanassios and Bishop Chrisostomos respectively.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
