Dead Ethnarch’s organ has been in Archbishopric since 1977
THE NEW Archbishop has announced that he plans to bury the heart of Makarios III – which has been embalmed for the past 30 years in the Archbishopric – in a Nicosia cemetery.
The news has shocked Cypriots, as the vast majority had no idea that Makarios’ heart had not been buried with the rest of his body.
The heart has been kept preserved in the bedroom of the former Ethnarch in the Archbishopric since his unexpected death on August 3, 1977.
The heart was removed so that an examination could be conducted to confirm the apparent cause of death, a heart attack. It has been alleged, although not officially verified, that the heart was tested to determine whether or not the Ethnarch had been poisoned.
The decision to bury the heart was reportedly made because after close to three decades the condition of the preserved heart was beginning to deteriorate.
After conducting a Tuesday memorial service at the Old Nicosia Cemetery, where many of the former Archbishops are buried, Archbishop Chrysostomos II said that Makarios’ heart would be buried next to the tombs of the other former Archbishops.
But there remains disagreement over where the heart should be buried. President of the Historical Cultural Centre of Archbishop Makariou III in Panagia Efthymios Anastassiou told the Cyprus Mail that he has sent a letter to the Archbishop, who is the relevant authority, requesting that he reconsider the burial site in favour of Panagia, Makarios’ birthplace.
“We believe, your Beatitude, that we too have the right to claim this heart, which for so many years beat for Cyprus and its people,” he said in the letter.
On his request, Makarios III was buried in a tomb in the mountain of Throni near Kykko monastery, where he served as a novice in the 1920s and 1930s. For that reason, many consider the Throni tomb as the logical burial site.
“Does it makes sense to have his heart over here and his body over there?” one Nicosia resident said.
“And are they going to have another funeral ceremony for Makarios with the President giving a speech and so on? It’s totally crazy: ‘If you missed the funeral in 1977 you can go to it now’.”
Most people only learned this week that Makarios’ heart was being preserved in the Archbishop.
“Nobody in the office today knew about it,” he added. “It’s not even funny, it’s embarrassing. We are like Uganda.”
The words ‘MAKARIOS LIVES’ are presently painted in giant white letters on the mountainside below Makarios’ tomb.
One guard at the Archbishopric had not even heard that Makarios’ heart had been removed, and so upon questioning he confused the former Archbishop with the present one.
“What do you mean ‘when are they going to bury his heart’?” he told the Cyprus Mail. “How are they going to bury it when the Archbishop is still alive?”
The Holy Cloak
ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos has decided to wear the pastoral cloak of Makarios III instead of that of Sofronios, a 19th century Archbishop. Greek language daily Phileleftheros claimed that the decision the Archbishop chose Makarios’ cloak was because Sofronios’ garments were too short on him.
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