Bishop attacks Patriarchate over ‘sex monk insult’

By Jean Christou

THE REPORTED decision of the Patriarchate of Constantinople not to act against an elderly Greek monk accused of molesting nuns is an insult to the Cyprus Holy Synod, the Bishop of Paphos said yesterday.

In a written statement responding to reports that the Patriarchate stands behind Elder Iosif, Bishop Chrysostomos said if the information is true then he was “surprised”.

“If the Patriarchate has reached such a decision then it wasn’t well thought out, and appears to insult the decision of the Cyprus Holy Synod,” the Bishop’s statement said. “The Holy Synod was the responsible body.”

It was Bishop Chrysostomos who late last year publicised the allegations against Elder Iosif, who is from the Greek monastery of Varopedhi.

Iosif, now 80, was accused of molesting seven nuns and infecting them with sexual diseases 17 years ago. The Synod found him guilty of “embracing” a girl who was 11 years old at the time, according to witness testimony and to a letter he wrote to a young nun which allegedly implicated him.

Two weeks ago the Holy Synod upheld the allegations by the Bishop of Paphos against Iosif, but a letter of support for him was subsequently issued by the Patriarchate.

Since the Synod’s decision the Cyprus Church has been at pains to insist that there is no rift with its Greek brethren.

Last week in Paphos Chrysostomos said that with the Holy Synod’s decision the case was now closed.

Chrysostomos’s allegations about Iosif emerged as he levelled accusations against Limassol Bishopric candidate Abbot Athanasios of Macheras, a former protégé of the Greek monk.

But the Synod dismissed the Bishop’s allegations of immorality against Athanasios over his association with Iosif.

Bishop Chrysostomos consistently has denied that his allegations against Athanasios had anything to do with his opposition to the Abbot’s candidacy in the election for the post of Bishop of Limassol.

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.