By Angelos Anastasiou
Archbishop Chrysostomos on Friday repeated his claim that the Panayia Trachonas money he took from the Ecclesiastical Committee’s bank accounts belonged to the Archbishopric, and defended against charges of totalitarianism by saying he would only accept criticism if he carried out his tasks poorly.
But his comments still fell short of actually explaining what the Archbishopric needed the money for.
Earlier this week, the Panayia Trachonas Ecclesiastical Committee held a news conference to announce that Chrysostomos had taken some €450,000 from its bank accounts despite their explicit refusal to consent. Chrysostomos responded with wrath, announcing he would replace the committee the next day, and that he would “not leave anything in Panayia Trachonas’ accounts”.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Chrysostomos said the Church’s charter affords the Archbishopric a “coordinating role”.
“I don’t know the Ecclesiastical Committee of Panayia Trachonas, and I don’t want to know them,” he said. “Each Metropolis – in this case, the Archbishopric – has a coordinating role by which it can take money from parishes with surpluses and distribute it to ones with deficits.”
Chrysostomos said the Archbishopric hands out a lot of money in charity, which must come from somewhere.
“Everyone likes it when the Archbishopric pays €4 million a year in salaries for clerics all over Cyprus,” he argued.
“Everyone likes it when it pays another €4 million to food banks, children’s sandwiches in schools, for the sick, poor students, and all who suffer.”
“The Archbishopric pays money every day but has no money-printing machines.”
He argued that managing the Church’s money was solely his task and that he would only accept criticism for not doing his job properly, but offered no evidence to the contrary other than his own judgement.
“No one can tell me what to do in the Church,” he charged.
“The judgement is mine to make. I will be judged if I do my job poorly – but I will do my job properly because I know what needs to be done.”
Asked to comment on the Ecclesiastical Committee’s stated intention of resorting to the courts over the money, the Archbishop said the money belongs to none other than the people in need.
“They can go wherever they want – this is a democracy in which anyone is free to say whatever they want,” he said.
“Thank God, we have laws and courts. They can go wherever they want.”
Chrysostomos countered the committee’s argument that the money had been saved up to improve its church by saying it hadn’t been collected for any specific purpose, and was thus fair game.
“If the money was collected to build a monument, a church, or a school, which are specific goals, we would respect that,” he said.
“We would never touch that money.”
