Synod to discuss new Archbishop elections

ELECTIONS FOR a new Archbishop will be discussed at the end of the month by the church's Holy Synod.

Also on the agenda will be the controversial crossing of Morphou Bishop Neophytos to take a service at Ayios Mamas on the saint's day earlier this month

During its first session after the Summer Holidays last Friday, the Holy Synod, decided to review the two key issues at length, when it confers on September 30, Paphos Bishop Chrysostomos said.

Church elections have been in prospect for months amid church circles, following the absence from public life of Archbishop Chrysostomos, for nearly two and half years.

During last Friday's meeting, Bishop of Kykkos Nikiforos raised the matter of elections but the majority of Church officials agreed the time was not ripe to discuss it, since the procedural regulations for church elections and the voters' registry were not ready.

Chrysostomos of Paphos, who heads the Holy Synod in the absence of the Archbishop, told reporters that church elections, including Church canon law related to it, would be discussed in depth in future Holy Synod meetings.

Chrysostomos of Paphos indicated that Friday's meeting had paved the way for elections for a new Archbishop and that vacating the Archbishop's throne was now a matter of time, despite delays due to subjective or objective reasons.

Emerging from the Holy Synod meeting at the Archbishopric, Neophytos of Morphou told the press that his suggestion had been to appoint a synod, in charge of elections, a matter he said was very serious.

Neophytos of Morphou also said the members of the Holy Synod did not consider it was the right time right to discuss elections, a matter on which church officials had expressed many different opinions.

Like Chrysostomos, the issue, he told reporters, was to come up again in future meetings of the Holy Synod.

" What I was clear about was that we should not be talking about elections for a new Archbishop but the right conditions for the suspension from his duties of the Primate of the Church of Cyprus, something we all agree on," Neophytos said.

Asked about his crossing over to occupied Morphou and whether penalties had been imposed, Neophytos was brief.

"The suspect is innocent. It is the right of the Morphou bishop to visit his bishopric and as he sees fit officiate service within its boundaries," he said referring to himself.

His crossing to the occupied areas, he said, had been discussed at length by the members of the Holy Synod, with every bishop expressing his individual view on it, some being against it and others more understanding.

"I answered all the questions put to me, in a brotherly atmosphere with no one raising the issue of penalty," Neophytos told newsmen.

Chrysostomos of Paphos, who was the one to raise the issue of Neophytos's crossing to the occupied north, said that each bishop elaborated on his own stance, including Neophytos.

"We will continue discussing the matter at length, during the next session of the Holy Synod, because it is our wish to reach a unanimous decision and for the Church to have a single but strong voice on the subject," said Chrysostomos.

Kyrenia bishop Pavlos, who strongly opposed Neophytos's initiative to take the service at his native town's monastery, shortly before entering the meeting, was asked whether he intended to demand punishment for Neophytos.

"The Holy Synod is not a Holy Inquisition, we will indicate his mistake to him," was Pavlos's reply.

The bishop of France, Emmanuel, who is the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchy in Brussels was present during last Friday's Holy Synod meetings and briefed Cypriot bishops on European matters.