Archbishops of Cyprus in the Modern Age : The Changing Role of the Archbishop-Ethnarch, their Identities and Politics

Since the onset of Ottoman rule, but more especially from the mid-18th Century, the archbishops of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church have wielded a great deal of political power. Most people of a certain age will remember the bearded monk who became a Greek nationalist politician and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, Archbishop Makarios III. Indeed his presence at Madame Tussaud's is a reminder of his stature. But were all Cypriot archbishops such political and powerful Greek nationalists? This study is unique in its exploration of the peculiar role of the archbishop-ethnarch and, as such, offers valuable historical and political insights into the phenomenon. This book seeks to restore the historical record and offer the Church of Cyprus a starting point from which to reassess its past and move forward. The Church of Cyprus, as with all other churches in the Western world, has a social and spiritual role to play in society. Therefore, this book should be read first and foremost as offering a political history of religious authorities in the pre-modern, modern and post-modern eras, and secondly as a work examining how nationalist politics evolved and was co-opted by religious authorities in order to re-establish political hegemony from a secular European colonial power, and the consequences this entailed after the end of empire.