April 11, 1955
CHURCH AND CYPRUS: The Panhellenic Committee for Union with Cyprus, chaired by Archbishop Spyridon of Athens, has issued the following communique: «(…) The people of Greece, recalling the repeated official and unofficial British exhortations which, during the recent foreign occupation, came from British lips urging people to rise up against the foreign yoke, have this to say. Should we believe that the foreign yoke should be thrown off when imposed by others, but when imposed by our allies, not only should it be tolerated unprotestingly, but that expressions of peaceful opposition against it should be called «malicious acts» committed by a group of «criminals,» as the British colonial secretary recently characterized the latest demonstrations in Cyprus? However, if we believe that this is true, then the Greek people must necessarily draw the conclusion that only a few years ago its allies were driven to actions committed by the «malicious» and which would include them in the category of «criminals.» (…) «The Greek people are at the side of the Cypriot patriots struggling for freedom.»