UNMOVED by the banished archimandrite’s threats to “expose” fellow clergymen, the Holy Synod yesterday declined to discuss further Andreas Constantinides’ indefinite suspension for slandering Limassol Bishop Athanasios.
A Synod spokesman said after the hours-long meeting of Church leaders at the archbishopric that the Constantinides issue had been brought up but had not been discussed. The spokesman made no further comment.
On Monday, archimandrite Constantinides said that if the ban was not lifted he would ‘tell all’ about what he said was the part played by bishops and other clergy in last year’s sustained attack on Bishop Athanassios.
The archimandrite did not carry out his “exposure” threat yesterday.
The Limassol Bishop was only cleared of allegations that he was gay after a Major Synod convened in Nicosia last November. Constantinides, who had led the anti-Athanassios campaign, and fellow Limassol archimandrite Chrisostomos Argyrides, were suspended for their attacks on Athanassios soon after.
The two banished archimandrites claim they were singled out for they ‘gay bishop’ claims and face financial ruin without their Church salaries. They also say they want to return to their flocks.
The Holy Synod yesterday decided to establish a university level school of theology on the island. A relevant study is to be carried out by the Bishop of Morphou, Neophytos, and the Trimithounda Bishop, Vassilios.
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.
