It is quite obvious that the church is a political and economic power wielding its way with a heavy blow. Place the church on the same level as you tax any enterprise and see how the economic situation will be reversed. The wealth and properties that the church possesses is off of the backs of the Cypriot people. If Chrisostomos is a church leader, his message is one of anger and hate, surely not one of love. Have the church give up its worldly treasures. It is the people that need it, not the church. Also, this political power is only interested in itself and is a main cause of preventing the unification of this precious island. Separation of Church and State is what is needed, not a meddling political priest that preaches negativity.

Chris Green from Kyrenia said:
"We do not have an Archbishop in this country, but prophet of doom who instils fear in his flock and preaches hatred."

It is important to realise that an Archibishop is not a priest, but a political figure with a duty to act in the best interest of the 'true faith' (whatever that means). Sometimes, this duty leads him to act in an unpopular manner, because it is not a responsibility of an Archibishop to be popular. Can we really criticize someone for doing his job?

On the side issue, I disagree with the views presented in the article. It is true that the language used by the Archibishop of Cyprus was unnecessarily vague, leading to surprisingly dangerous interpretations. But the core of his message was somewhat less controversial - that Cyprus government should be cautious and avoid acting in a rush manner, just to respond to political pressure. Cyprus Church is a powerful body with a lot of members and direct interest in the well-being of the State, so at very least their views should be considered with caution, even if they are to be ignored...

Congratulation to Christofis’ response to Archbishop Chrysostom’s. Arguments and opinions in this section little childish and passé on booth side of the divide. Haven’t any one heard of “FORGIVE AND FORGET” Move on this will never finish if we throw the blame to one another.
I am please to see he will not tolerate any nonsense from religious leaders as this got us in to this mess last 50 years. He must be the first in GC. I can almost see a little light of hope for peace in a distance if Christofis gets the support of rest of GC. Hope he will be the men to bring peace to G&T Cyprus. On the other side of token TC, I believe TC is very ready for peace since they suffered lot more with embargoes.
Lets be realistic there will be no fair result incase of peace amongst our people. As John Lennon said, GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.

Sad really that these forums stir the argument as to who was responsible for the current debacle..bit like a hamster on a wheel.

Religion and politics do not mix but alas the Church in Cyprus has always peddled its vitriol aginst the "barbarian hordes" (and yes do remember this phrase being used).

Christofias is right to put the Archbishop firmly in his place.

dont blame the turks for the so called invasion ,you guys should be pionting the finger at the church!
god, should fire them from there jobs , and employ more human friendly guys to run his churchs ,
and the same goes for the guys of othere mosuqes who preach hate of other faiths and ethnic people.

you guys go on sundays to learn to hate people ,just think about it , it has nothing to do with faith or god, they just do not want the puplic under there thumbs to run and rule you guys.

If Greeks didn’t elect the famous ''Archbishop'' Cyprus wouldn’t be in this mess last 50 years.
Religion and politics doesn’t mix, just like fire and fuel

@SABAN from GIRNE
Your attack at 'MyOpinion' due to his/her location being abroad is a low, cheap and unintelligent jibe. Somebody's location has no effect on their ability to have an opinion and by no way lessons it's relevance. Dismissing someone for that reason alone only proves that you yourself have very little opinion of substance to contribute to this discussion. You do not know what has taken part in somebody's life.

I agree with the general message in this article although I dislike it's tone, as a newspaper such as this should not be so heavily biased. There is a way to articulately make an argument or state an opinion without sounding like a reality TV show commentator. Words such as 'prophet of doom' do nothing to help the situation but purely fuel the fanatics on all sides of the political spectrum across all of Cyprus.

Personally I do have a very low opinion of this Archbishop and see him as a real road block to peace and reconciliation with our Turkish Cypriot brothers. I see him as somebody that mistakably believes that it is acceptable for him to step in and out of politics at will purely to promote his own warped extreme political bias. Although I am not a devout Orthodox I believe that we should respect the church as the vast majority of Greek Cypriots are religious and to simply dismiss the establishment in a juvenile way, as is portrayed here, is a direct insult to those Greek Cypriots. All the faiths and religious establishments in Cyprus should be respected and criticised in a constructive manner. This is the only way that people of that faith can understand the criticism and not be solely offended.

Perhaps all religous leaders should KEEP OUT of politics.

I suggest that Ben Dover(and whoever happens to share similar views)reads some history. The Turkish invasion was and is illegal and the Annan plan was not in the interests of the Greek-Cypriots. Expressing that view is not blinkered nor has anything to do with religion. End of story. The point is the the Cyprus Mail does not provide objective and unbiased journalism and as a national newspaper this should be its remit. Surely you can agree that this article is neither of those two things.

past two comments just go to show how blinkered some people are to the sentiments of this mans rhetoric...those who do not have anything to gain from either camp can see a lot clearer this man of God's meddling ways.
his best interests are his own not his flock!

do you not remember the last time? were you not born then?

What a lot of rubbish in this article; if someone expresses an opinion that some people do not agree with then it is unchristian or if it is expressed in the the middle of the summer then it is against national unity. If the Cyprus Mail disagrees with the Archipishop then use an intelligent arguement please. Instead you resort to cheap journalism which can only be compared to the Daily Mail - by the way do not take this as a compliment

Well said, Mr Talat wouldnt have put it any better.