The Ecclesiastical coup is the name given to the events staged by three bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus against the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 Makarios III

Makarios III

Makarios III , born Andreas Christodolou Mouskos , was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus ....

 in the period from March 1972 to July 1973.

Background

At the session of the Holy Synod

Holy Synod

In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...

 of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus held on March 2, 1972, Bishop Anthemos of Kition, Bishop Kyprianos of Kyrenia

Kyrenia

Kyrenia is a town on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. Internationally recognised as part of the Republic of Cyprus, Kyrenia has been under Turkish control since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974...

, and Bishop Gennadios of Paphos

Paphos

Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...

, tabled a motion

Motion (democracy)

A motion is a formal step to introduce a matter for consideration by a group. It is a common concept in the procedure of trade unions, students' unions, corporations, and other deliberative assemblies...

 proposing that Archbishop Makarios III

Makarios

Makarios is a Greek given name. The old-Greek word Μακάριος makarios is a prolonged form of the poetical μάκαρ makar ; supremely blessed; by extension fortunate, well off: - blessed, happy....

 resign the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus

Presidents of Cyprus

The President of Cyprus is the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Cyprus. The office was created in 1960, after Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Currently, the President of Cyprus is Dimitris Christofias....

. They held that the holding of secular office by a cleric was against the canons

Canon law

Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...

 of the Church. The Synod released an announcement reporting the position of the bishops, and stating that the Archbishop would announce his response at a later time.

Makarios issued his response on March 19. In it he accused the three bishops of having conspired

Cabal

A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue...

 among themselves and with other people outside the church, hinting at the Junta of the Colonels

Greek military junta of 1967-1974

The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...

 ruling Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 at the time, and at George Grivas

George Grivas

Georgios Grivas , also known by his nom de guerre Digenis , which he adopted while in EOKA, was a Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army, leader of the EOKA guerrilla organization and EOKA B paramilitary organisation.-Early life:Georgios Grivas was born on July 5, 1898 in Trikomo, Famagusta...

, leader of the EOKA

EOKA

EOKA was an anticolonial, antiimperialist nationalist organisation with the ultimate goal of "The liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke". Although not stated in its initial declaration of existence which was printed and distributed on the 1st of April 1955, EOKA also had a target of achieving...

 guerrilla organization, who had secretly returned to Cyprus. Makarios argued that the office of President of the Republic of Cyprus could not be called secular at a time when the Orthodox Greeks of Cyprus were struggling for their national survival, and that in the circumstances the holding of secular office did not confer on the Archbishop any personal reward, but was an onerous and bitter duty which he could not shirk.

The bishops maintained their position and the crisis continued. It finally came to a climax after the unopposed re-election of Makarios to the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus on February 8, 1973. The three bishops summoned Makarios to account for himself before an extraordinary session of the Holy Synod

Holy Synod

In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...

 which they called for March 7, 1973. Makarios replied on March 6, stating that the Synod the three bishops had called was unconstitutional and therefore any decision it reached would be invalid. The three bishops met among themselves and decided to defrock Makarios.

Makarios called a Major Synod comprising representatives from all Orthodox Patriarchates

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

. They all responded, except the Church of Greece

Church of Greece

The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

 and the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....

 whose seat is in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. The Major Synod convened on July 5 and 6 , 1973. It decided to annul the defrocking of Makarios, and to call the three bishops to audience so they could express their views. The three bishops refused to attend the Major Synod, which convened again on July 14 and defrocked them.

Return of the bishops in the 1974 secular coup

When Makarios was forced to flee the island after the military coup

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 of July 15, 1974, the three defrocked bishops entered the limelight again. The coup leaders, having appointed Nikos Giorgades Sampson

Nikos Sampson

Nikos Sampson was the de facto president of Cyprus who succeeded Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, in 1974. Sampson was a journalist and a member of EOKA, which rose against the British colonial administration, seeking Enosis of the island of Cyprus with Greece...

 as President of the Republic, also installed Gennadios as the new Archbishop of Cyprus. Sampson was sworn in as president in a ceremony conducted by Gennadios in the presence of Kyprianos and Anthemos. However, the coupist government collapsed on July 23 as a result of the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus

Turkish invasion of Cyprus

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...

 on July 20. Glafkos Klerides

Glafkos Klerides

Glafcos Ioannou Clerides is a Greek-Cypriot politician and the fourth President of the Republic of Cyprus.Clerides was the eldest son of the lawyer and statesman Ioannis Clerides....

, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, constitutionally took over the powers of the President in the absence of Makarios, but agreed to be sworn in as President before Gennadios, an action which Klerides's detractors suggest was indicative of a pro-coupist orientiation on his part at the time. With the return of Makarios to the Presidency and the Archbishopric in December 1974, the three defrocked bishops faded from the political scene.