Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-11-13

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Friday, November 13, 1998

Bishop in deep trouble

AFTER A BRIEF absence, the Bishop of Limassol, Chrysanthos, returned to the front pages yesterday, after the publication of the eight-point indictment drawn up by three members of the Holy Synod.

Machi said the report effectively condemned Chrysanthos in advance, as it used very strong adjectives in reference to the bishop. The paper said the report had described Chrysanthos as "a fraudster, greedy and self- interested".

The committee, among other things, accused Chrysanthos of co-operating in investment schemes with disreputable people, using charity as a pretext. The charges could lead to the demotion or the defrocking of the Bishop, who avoided making any comment about them.

Simerini reported that the Bishop was shocked by the content and the tone of the indictment and requested more details about the charges as well as time to study them. The paper said the Bishop would hire a highly-respected lawyer from Greece, specialising in Church law.

It was still not known whether Archbishop Chrysostomos would grant Chrysanthos' request for more time to study the charges. The Bishop was due to appear before the Holy Synod yesterday morning.

Haravghi reported that the government and its main backer Disy were in a panic because opinion polls showed they were not very popular. The lack of uniform views on the national issue, the dithering over the missiles, corruption scandals and the Minister of Interior's tribulations all contributed to the negative picture.

President Clerides, who is under pressure to carry out a cabinet reshuffle, had met Disy leader Nicos Anastassiades to discuss these issues. Alexis Galanos is also reported to have advised Clerides, to carry out a reshuffle, and replace some of his advisors.

Alithia reported that the final decision about the deployment of the missiles would be taken at an Athens meeting between Clerides and Prime Minister Costas Simitis and not at today's National Council meeting which will discuss Cyprus' possible recourse to the UN General Assembly.

Simitis, it said, was prepared to take the responsibility for the missiles not being deployed in Cyprus. Meanwhile Clerides, in a written statement, denied reports claiming that he had told Greek officials that the missiles would be deployed in Cyprus. No such meeting had taken place.

Phileleftheros said that Athens and Nicosia had decided to focus all their efforts on the diplomatic front, in order to ensure the smooth progress of EU accession talks.

They were both looking for a diplomatic way out of the missile deployment - to which many powerful countries were opposed - that could affect the progress of accession talks.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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