In an exclusive interview given to Alpha, Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus sends strong message to the priests and the Metropolitans about their attitude during the pandemic and the restrictive measures.
The Archbishop called on the Metropolitans who want to show off, to leave this job to the politicians and admitted that the police, whenever they intervened in temples, was because there were the responsibilities of priests.
He emphasized that “I am not a beginner. I serve the Church for more than half a century. I went through worse ups and downs than today. I do not want to quarrel with the brothers, because the Church will be dragged down to a lower level. Sometimes I pretend I don’t hear them in order to maintain the level. Sometimes I have to make some remarks. If they listen, everything goes fine, if they don’t listen…”
He noted, “I will not allow the Church to be harmed. I will not fight with them (meaning with the Hierarchs expressing disagreement). I will not quarrel with them and let the world put the blame on us. To avoid any deterioration in our relationship, I learned to keep quiet.”
He expressed his unwavering opinion regarding the issue of Holy Communion, saying that it was an issue exclusively for the Church and that he expressed the same opinion to the President of Cyprus
When asked how he spent his time during quarantine, he replied that he did absolutely nothing.