Word: ethnarch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...difficult to live with him were suddenly so worried about living without him. But this was not surprising: Makarios has been the hub of Cyprus' political ambiguities ever since he was elected archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus in 1950 and assumed the traditional title of ethnarch (literally ethnic or national leader). Like a medieval Pope, the ethnarch is both a secular and religious leader. Makarios practiced the politics but preferred the spiritual title. He wanted to be addressed formally as "Your Beatitude...
Makarios' concern for his flock was always political. He once said: "I would consort with the devil himself if it would keep Cyprus and its people independent." In 1956, as the fighting peaked between the British army and the Cypriots, Anthony Eden's government accused the ethnarch of fomenting rebellion and exiled him to the remote Seychelles Islands 3,000 miles from home. But when the British gave up the fight three years later, Makarios was elected President of the newly independent Republic of Cyprus...
...bishops' action was curiously delayed; it has been more than twelve years, after all, since the bearded ethnarch was first elected President. Suspecting with good reason that the Greek government had put the bishops up to their protest, Cypriot Greeks responded riotously. In Paphos, capital of the district where Makarios was born, scores of cassocked priests seized the office of Gennadios, one of the three bishops involved, and declared that they were no longer loyal to him. Gennadios had wisely stayed in the bishopric of Kitium in Limassol as a guest of Bishop Anthimos. But there too, crowds beat...