Abstract

This study is about two political church crises that the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church, which regained its freedom with the conquest of the island of Cyprus by the Ottoman Empire, experienced during the British rule. The British administration in Cyprus is divided into two periods. The first is the period that lasted until 1914 within the scope of the two-point agreement with the Ottoman Empire in 1878, and when the island was actually accepted as Ottoman territory; the second is the period from the British unilateral annexation of the island in 1914 to the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. The first of the church crises during the British administration took place in 1900-1910, between the Bishop of Kitium Kyrillos Papadopoulos and the Bishop of Kyrenia Kyrillos Basileiou. The second one took place in 1933-1947, because of the Metropolitan of Paphos Leontios Leontiou's declaration that the metropolitans who were in exile outside of the island due to the 1931 revolts declared that elections could not be held without their return to the island. Since the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church is an autocephalous church, it did not want to interfere with other churches in its internal affairs, but the intervention was inevitable due to the stalemate choice of diocese. The Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church, which has had an influence in politics until today, was able to overcome the church crises it had experienced at the beginning of the 20th century only with the influence and help of politics. The first Greek flag in Cyprus was used as a supporter gathering effort during the first church crisis. He was taken to Trooditissa Monastery by Kyrillos (Kyrillos Papadopoulos). However, the island of Cyprus has no ties with Greece, neither in previous periods nor now. It is the church that tries and claims to create a bond between the Greeks living on the island of Cyprus and Greece. The church crises mentioned in the process played an important role in the election of Makarios III, the first president of the Republic of Cyprus, as archbishop. During this period, among the archbishop candidates, there had been accusations of not defending Enosis passionately against the rival island and being too close to the British administration. Makarios III fiercely defended Enosis and was, at the same time, always in conflict with the British administration. This process brought him first the archbishopric, and then the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus. The Turkish hostility, which came to the fore in the aforementioned period in Cyprus, was considered the first condition of being an archbishop. After the British annexed the island unilaterally, the archbishops of the Greek Orthodox Church, who were almost sure that the British would leave the island to them, made church propaganda out of hostility to the British administration and then to the Turks. In the study, the attitude of the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church, which is an autocephalous church, in intra-church disputes and its adherence to church rules are also discussed. These two crises, in which the effect of the idea of enosis on the choice of diocese will be seen more clearly, are very important in terms of understanding the present day of the church.