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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 235 of 274
Words from 122457 to 123019
of 143016
