Archbishop Georgios of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus officially assumed his new duties following the enthronement ceremony held on Sunday afternoon at the Cathedral of Apostle Barnabas in Nicosia.
As he said, among other things, in his enthronement speech, “for Cyprus and its Archbishop, the cross remains a cross of martyrdom, the chlamydia becomes a cloth with which it covers the wounds of the people, the crown of thorns becomes a visible sign of the burdensome slavery of our homeland, and the calamus the means by which the venom of bitter slavery is transmitted to our people”.
His Beatitude said that he is particularly concerned about the issues of education as an essential element of life and survival of a people. “We are not asking, nor are we attempting to blackmail the Government of the country on the issues of education, nor on other issues. We do not, however, deny ourselves the right to have an opinion on the most important issues of the country and to express it freely, as such a right is enjoyed today by all citizens,” he said.
Referring to the Cyprus issue, he said that today, when we are in danger as never before from “Turkish bulimia”, as he put it, which does not hide its aspirations for the conquest and Turkification of the whole of Cyprus, the Church cannot remain in the stands as a mere spectator.
“The government of the Republic can also count on our support in seeking to restore the rights of our people and in liberating our occupied territories,” he noted, adding that the Church would not hesitate, however, to point out any possible diversion and would “strive to prevent solutions that would endanger our survival in our ancestral land.”
He added that the Church will actively contribute, in consultation with the competent authorities of the state, to the defence of Cyprus, while he called for the activation of the defence doctrine of the single area between Greece and Cyprus, which, he said, will satisfy the sense of security of the people, prevent new expansionist moves by Turkey and maintain and consolidate the desire for liberation.
The Archbishop’s enthronement speech was preceded by addresses on behalf of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus and the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus by Metropolitan Nektarios of Kition and Metropolitan Christophoros of Karpasia, respectively.
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece also addressed the new Archbishop, while messages on behalf of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis were read by Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain and Apostolic Nuncio Adolfo Tito, respectively.
The Enthronement Ceremony began shortly after 4 p.m., in the presence of the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, the Speaker of the Parliament, Annita Demetriou, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos, and the country’s political leadership.
Also present at the ceremony were the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs of Greece, Niki Kerameos, a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, representatives of all the Orthodox Churches, as well as representatives of other denominations.
After the end of the Enthronement Ceremony, the Archbishop went to the Great Synod, where he received congratulations.
This was followed by a dinner at a Nicosia hotel for the official guests and delegates.
Source: Cyprus News Agency