By Martin Hellicar
ABBOT Athanasios of Machairas monastery is to be enthroned as the new Bishop of Limassol on Sunday after winning a landslide victory in yesterday’s final phase of elections to replace disgraced former Bishop Chrysanthos.
Athanasios won the votes of 14 of the 20 Church-appointed electors and of all 50 general electors chosen by Limassol parishioners in earlier polling rounds.
The other six votes went to Abbot Varnavas of Stavrovouni monastery.
Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos, who was meant to be among the Church- appointed electors, was conspicuous by his absence from yesterday’s ballot casting.
Chrysostomos fought a no-holds-barred battle against Athanasios’ candidacy. He alleged that Athanasios’ mentor, 80-year-old elder Iosif of the Mount Athos monastery of Vatopedhi, was a pervert who molested nuns and young girls during his stay in Paphos 17 years ago.
A Holy Synod investigation found Chrysostomos’ claims against Iosif justified, but the Patriarch of Constantinople – under whose jurisdiction Iosif falls – has stood by him, and Vatopedhi monastery has threatened to sue the Paphos Bishop for libel.
The lurid saga did not damage Athanasios’s credentials.
Archbishop Chrysostomos said he was “disappointed” by his Paphos namesake’s no-show yesterday. But he also sought to make excuses for the Bishop, suggesting he had become tired of the media coverage his sordid allegations had granted him. “He was in two minds (about coming) because he felt there might have been misunderstandings and he was wary of television cameras,” the Archbishop said.
Athanasios said his election as Limassol Bishop had been God’s will.
“I believe God had a hand in my election and I accept God’s will for my life,” he told journalists.
He said he felt “nothing” either way about the Paphos Bishop’s absence from polling.
His priority now, as new Bishop, was “saving the faithful,” he said.
The elections for a new Bishop were announced in November last year after Chrysanthos was suspended from his duties following the launch of a police investigation into his alleged involvement in over 30 financial scams in Cyprus and abroad.
