‘The important thing for the Church is to save the Monastery’
Apostolos Andreas Monastery
12/3/2010
By Helen Christophi
THE CHURCH continues to remain silent on details of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s approval of restoring the Apostolos Andreas monastery on the Karpass peninsula in the north..
Initial and current media reports claim that Erdogan sent a personal letter to Archbishop Chrysostomos in which he approved the Archbishop’s request to restore the monastery. But some media outlets are now reporting that Erdogan delivered his approval to the Archbishop orally through unidentified officials, rather than through a letter.
The Bishop of Paphos reportedly commented Wednesday that Erdogan never sent a letter of approval to Chrysostomos and instead conveyed his approval via word-of-mouth. The Bishopric declined to comment further on the issue yesterday.
The Church’s press officer Protopapas said he was unaware whether Erdogan’s response came in written or oral form.
No other details of the project have been made available by the Church to the public yet because, according to Protopapas, negotiations are ongoing and extremely sensitive.
“The issue for us as the Church is to save the monastery,” said Protopapas. “Apostolos Andreas is a symbol for Orthodox Christianity and at the end of the day to do this right we must be lucky enough to put forth the right energies and the right efforts. [The proposals] must be followed and studied very carefully,” he said.
“The issue is very serious and we will not say anything,” said Protopapas, adding that he does not know any other information than what has already been published in the press because Chrysostomos was away from the Archbishopric and had not informed anyone of the latest developments surrounding the restoration project.
Takis Hadjidemetriou, head of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Cyprus, said he was also unaware of the developments surrounding the restoration of Apostolos Andreas.
The monastery is in danger of collapse after having stood abandoned since the 1974 invasion and occupation of the region by Turkey. It was built in the first centuries AD and was a central pilgrimage site for Greek Orthodox worshippers in Cyprus until Turkish forces barred civilian access to it.
