Archbishop intervenes with Russian Church on financial aid to Cyprus

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The government has asked Archbishop Chrysostomos to intervene on its behalf to the Church of Russia regarding a request by Cyprus for financial assistance from Moscow.

The primate of the church of Cyprus said on Thursday that the government had asked him to mediate towards the Church of Russia in order to intervene to the Russian government in an effort to secure a positive approach to the Cypriot request.

The Archbishop Chrysostomos said that he communicated with the Russian Patriarch and asked him to visit the President of the Russian Federation to convey his request. He also expressed optimism for a positive outcome of this attempt.

“The church is always at the government’s disposal”, the Archbishop said, expressing optimism about the future of the Cyprus economy.

Cyprus applied on June 25 for financial assistance from the EU bailout mechanism after its two largest banks sought state aid to meet their capital requirements, following a massive write-down of their Greek bond holdings as a result of the Greek sovereign debt haircut and bad loans in Greece. The Cypriot authorities and the Troika agreed last November on a fiscal adjustment programme. The Cypriot bailout is estimated to reach 17.5 billion euro.
Asked about the restoration of Apostle Andreas Monastery, in the northern Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos said that in the coming days the agreement on the restoration will be signed.

Replying to a question, the primate of the church of Cyprus expressed hope that the Turkish occupation forces “will not fool us”. He said the US Ambassador to Cyprus has intervened on the issue of the restoration of the Monastery and that UNDP is in close contact with the Church of Cyprus, to allow restoration work to begin soon.