This Fact Would Establish An Additional
Advantage In The Selection Of Limasol For Headquarters, As The Troops
Would Be In The Immediate Neighbourhood At All Seasons.
Colonel Warren,
R.A., who had been the prime mover in all the improvements that had been
made in
Limasol since the British occupation, was promoted on 1st August
to the position of chief of the staff under Sir Garnet Wolseley's able
successor, Major-General Biddulph, C.B., R.A., and the district thus
lost its leading spirit. In reforming abuses and promoting progress,
Colonel Warren had not entirely escaped the usual fate of men who are in
advance of their age. The unflinching determination to administer the
laws without fear or favour to all classes had infringed upon the
assumed immunities of the Greek Church, which had always received
deferential consideration from the Turkish government, and although
actually liable to taxation, the right had never been enforced. This is
a curious contradiction to the vulgar belief in Mussulman intolerance
and bigotry; the Greek Church not only enjoyed a perfect freedom under
the Turks, but the bishops were assisted in obtaining a forced tribute
from their flock by the presence of Turkish zaphtiehs (police), who
accompanied them during their journeys through the diocese.
An interference with Church property or established rights is certain to
create a buzzing of the ecclesiastical bees, who will swarm against the
invader with every sting prepared for action. As the case was
investigated by a special court of inquiry, and terminated, as might
have been expected, completely in favour of Colonel Warren, it is not
necessary to enter upon minute details; but, as the plaintiff was the
Bishop of Citium, and this first public attack created a peculiar
agitation that will probably be repeated, it may be interesting to
examine the actual position of the Greek Church as it existed during the
Turkish administration.
The Church in Cyprus is represented by an Archbishop and three Bishops
as the acknowledged heads. The diocese of the former comprises Lefkosia,
Famagousta, and the Carpas districts, while the three Bishoprics are
those of Larnaca or Citium, Kyrenia, and Baffo.
The revenues of the Archbishop amount to about £2000 a year, and the
necessary expenditure for staff, schools, &c., to £1500. The Bishopric
of Baffo is the richest, with a revenue of about £1000; at the same time
the outgoings are small, amounting to £300 a year for the payment of his
staff, and one-fifth of the expenses of a public school.
The Bishopric of Larnaca or Citium is valued at about £900 a year, but
the expenditure is confined to £200. That of Kyrenia is about the same
as Citium. There is no possibility of determining an exact figure, as
these revenues are dependent upon voluntary payments, which cannot be
enforced by any statute; but there is a "Berat" (decree) which invites
the local authorities to render the bishops assistance in the collection
of their revenues, without the absolute enforcement of any payments. No
amounts due to the bishops for either canonical, ecclesiastical, or alms
(Zitia), can be recovered through a court of law. On the other hand, the
all-powerful countenance afforded by the Turkish government represented
by public functionaries (zaphtiehs), who accompanied the bishops during
their diocesan visits upon a tour of collection, was a moral influence
that succeeded in extorting the unwilling fees. In case of a defaulting
village, it is said that a bishop has been known to suspend the
functions of the priest until the necessary payments should be completed
by his parishioners, who, thus temporarily cut off from all ghostly
comfort, hastened to arrive at a pecuniary compromise.
The monasteries are an important institution throughout Cyprus, and
there is a decided difference between the monks of these establishments
and the general priesthood. The monks are supposed to devote their lives
to charitable objects; they are not allowed to marry, and they have a
superior education, as all can read and write. On the other hand, the
priests are grossly ignorant, and it is computed that only a quarter of
their number could even write their own names. These are allowed to
marry one wife, but they cannot re-marry in the event of her decease;
they are generally poor to a superlative degree, and are frequently
obliged to work for hire like common labourers. Should a man desire to
become a priest, it is only necessary that he should be recommended by
the inhabitants of his village as a person of good reputation that would
be suitable for the office: he is then ordained by the bishop upon
payment of a fee of about one hundred piastres (or 150), and he is at
once at liberty to enter upon his duties. These ordination fees are a
temptation to the bishops to increase the number of priests to an
unlimited extent, and the result is seen throughout Cyprus in a large
and superfluous body of the most ignorant people, totally unfitted for
their position.
The monasteries vary in their revenues, as they have derived their
possessions at different periods from grants of land, or private gifts,
or legacies. In like manner with the bishops, although they cannot
legally compel the villagers to pay according to their demands, they
assumed a power which by long sufferance had become recognised by the
ignorant peasantry, who reluctantly acceded to their claims. I have
myself witnessed an altercation between the monks and shepherds on the
mountains upon a question of cheeses and goats, which the former claimed
as annually due to the monastery; it appeared that prior to the British
occupation they had been able by threats to extort this demand, but the
shepherds had now determined to free themselves from all payments beyond
those which the law compelled, and they resisted the priestly authority,
before which they had hitherto remained as slaves. This spirit of
independence that has been so quickly developed by the equity of British
rule will probably extend, and may seriously interfere with the revenues
of the Church, should the population determine to abide by their legal
status and refuse the ordinary fees.
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