Holy Protesters Force Cancellation of Catholic Wedding

Cyprus Mail ^ | 10/19/09 | Charles Charalambous

[marshmallow]

BANNER-WAVING Orthodox protestors yesterday put a stop to a Catholic wedding ceremony at Ayios Yiorgios church in Chlorakas after shouting a string of abuse at the priest and others in the church.

The protestors had gathered for the second day outside a conference of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

The small church is opposite the venue.

Protestors were incensed when the Catholic priest, who has permission from the Church of Cyprus to hold ceremonies, asked them to leave. Instead they heckled him to leave. “We peacefully call on you to leave and to have the wedding in a Catholic Church,” said one of the protestors.

When the priest told them he had permission, another said: “We are Orthodox Christians. It’s our church and you have no place here.”

The incident was caught on camera by Antenna television.

Another protestor outside the church said the Catholic priest had shown up with a key, entered the church and began moving things around “as if he was in a warehouse”.

“Some heretic....a Latin heretic...came and told us to go outside because there was a wedding, a papal wedding,” said the protestor.

He claimed it was all a plot to distort the history of Cyprus because the church in question was historically important in terms of the EOKA struggle when it was used as a drop-off point for weapons.

“They (Catholics) are not allowed to enter our church,” said the first protestor. “Aren’t you ashamed. You came to throw us out,” he said to the priest.

The Catholic priest then walked away, saying the wedding was cancelled.

The protestors who began demonstrating on Saturday oppose dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, and claim that the aim of the dialogue between.........

[marshmallow]

Archbishop Chrysostomos expressed his displeasure about the Saturday protest in scathing terms. “The Church is certainly a place for healing, and people turn to it in order to be healed. But it is not an asylum, nor shall we allow it to become a home for the mentally-ill. The Church cannot be turned into a lunatic asylum” he said. “For someone – whether a lay or clerical person – to place his opinion above the opinion and decisions of the local synods of the whole of the Orthodox faith amounts to vanity, and indeed satanic vanity.” Inviting the protestors to “get their feet back on the ground and gain some redemptive humility”, he declared that all clerics and monks who took part in the protest would be punished, and told the participants to visit him in his office yesterday. The Archbishop said that the clerics would face suspension and loss of pay, and the monks would be deprived of Holy Communion “for several weeks”. “If they don’t like it, they should take off their robes and leave the formal Church. Let them go and set up their own church. This is why I will be very strict.”

LOL..........it's the Bishop-nator!! That's whatcha call "bishoping"!

Can we bring this guy to the US and get him to address the USCCB?

[vladimir998]

I don’t like the protestors...

but man do I LOVE their bishop!

[Integrityrocks]

Wow.

[bronx2]

Perhaps what is needed here is an “Intervention” by our Islamic friends. They are adept in handling Greeks.The love expressed by these Orthodox should be examined by all to discern the genesis of such feelings. Does “Latin Heretic” refer to Nancy or Kerry or the Kennedys? What recent event occasioned these feelings? Was 1054 yesterday and at the moment of death does my salvation depend on correct replies to the “Filoque” and existence of Original Sin?
Years ago I went to school with many of these people(Greek Orthodox, Antiochean, and ROCOR) and we Lain Heretics were always amused at their versions of history which almost paralleled Communists revisionist history promulgated in their reeducation camps. I would wager that this Greek band of "Christians" will not be taking part with the Angicans in the soon to be Anglican Rite. I wonder how these Greek believers would refer to the Anglicans who venture to Rome? Lain Lovers would be better than Latin Heretic

[Tax-chick]

Very impressive statement from the Archbishop.

[Kolokotronis]

“I don’t like the protestors...”

Nutcases, Vlad., and as the Archbishop has said, the Church is not a lunatic asylum.

+Chrysostomos was, if I remember correctly, the hegumen of one of the major monasteries on Cyprus. As such he has had plenty of experience in dealing with difficult monks.

[annalex]

Copme on, you've got to like something about the protesters, too.

Imagine how much better would we all have been if 40 years ago the Catholics had the same jealous love for their Church, when all of a sudden priests came and started moving the altar and the statues around as if they were in a warehouse.

[vladimir998]

I do wish we had their fervor, but not on the same issue certainly.

[markomalley]

Protestors were incensed

This could have a double meaning

 

Just sayin'

[Petrosius]

You want incense, I'll give you incense.

[clockwise]

Holy Smoke!!!