‘TOMMY’ II: as a student in Cyprus a short time after Archbishop Makarios III died, I can recall being at a rally in Eleftheria Square where the then new Archbishop Chrysostomos I made a fiery anti-occupation speech. He was totally different from Makarios.
In my opinion Makarios was just a humble confused liberal. That’s one of the things many of his critics often forgot. You could see it at the rallies when people wouldn’t let him speak. He’d stand patiently, observing, listening carefully as the masses shouted punishing slogans like ‘death to the traitors’ (in reference to the coup). Then Makarios would plea in a simple tone, ‘I too am a citizen and have the right to speak,’ which would always get a rapturous applause, even from the pest-like hecklers.
Chrysostomos always appeared angry back in those early years of his rule. It was a trait which was triggered by his more hard-line approach. It would have been a nightmare if he ever became President.
He remained an ardent opponent of a federal solution, which Makarios endorsed as a means of preventing Cyprus from being partitioned. Nowadays we have Archbishop Chrysostomos II – who has an equally hard-line and openly biased political approach.
The main difference with ‘Tommy Mark II’ is he is much more restrained and seldom loses his rag. Even his recent rise to throne made Machiavelli look like kids’ stuff.
As leader of the Orthodox Church, however, ‘Tommy II’ will isolate more believers than convert them with his blatantly prejudiced political convictions. Who in their right mind, voting Kasoulides or Christofias would ever have faith in his neutrality again? Furthermore, his political negativity could also have the opposite desired effect in the forthcoming presidential elections.
He may believe his inferences are acts of divine intervention but in reality they are redundant stances – tried and tested formulas which only lead to more hatred, enmity and polarisation. Look no further than the basic fascist principle which he uttered last weekend ‘we must have one national line, that is the line of the church, and this must be obeyed monolithically’. Why can’t people of the cloth just stick to the cloth?
PROPERTY BLOOPERS with every one and his or her goat switching from being overnight stockbrokers to becoming property developers, it’s not surprising that the results are being felt far and wide. With an array of sites online, books being written, youtube nightmare stories, many buyers from abroad are now thinking twice about living in Cyprus.
Eventually, when so much bad publicity hits our second biggest money earner, TV channels are called in to come to the rescue. CyBC’s attempt at coverage was as sticky as fudge melting on a sweltering Nicosia tarmac. The newsreader was caught side-shot with suit and tie on top and tacky blue jeans on bottom – an utterly schizophrenic appearance for any serious TV journalist.
His bizarre opening comment – ‘aliens are buying property in Cyprus’ – when referring to EU citizens seemed so na?ve that one wonders if he even knows a difference exists. Then the rest of the story appeared so weak because it ended up in yet another paranoiac state TV diatribe against the ‘occupation regime’.
After all, if we are treating British property buyers so badly, they may, heaven forbid turn to the ‘illegal north’! I sometimes look at the skyline in most places from Nicosia to Oroklini via Paphos and Kyrenia and wonder where all the trees and sea-views have gone – where all those natural sounds and sights of Cyprus are – what’s happened?
The concrete sprouting everywhere has replaced them with false dreams and the only people benefiting are the developers who never quiet develop legally, on time or with any sense of perfection, let alone respect for the environment.
NICE TIP: My dear old friend George ‘The Blessed’ Evlogimenos has become a hub for all kinds of info disseminated from the four corners of the globe regularly everyday. And sometimes he passes on some gems.
A tip for next time you are locked out of the car with the keys and remote button on the front inside seat. Just pick up your mobile, phone home, ask your nearest and dearest to get the spare remote, hold it as close to the mobile mouthpiece and press the ‘unlock’ button while you stand on the other end point your mobile to the lock on the car door. I am told it works a charm, because it hasn’t happened to me as yet!
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