Friday, 5 March 2021
At three different times, Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos was allegedly caught naked (at the time when he was Bishop of Paphos). What is true or not, whether he is a covert nudist or not; we don't know. But what we know: claims were brought forward by his opponents, by people who to harm him; sometimes with fake or real photographical evidence. How sad that exposing nudity would work as a defamation.
In July 1999, group of Greek Orthodox Christians in Paphos claimed he was frequenting a luxury hotel sauna where he was seen in his birthday suit. What a crime! We couldn't find any report of whether Chrysostomos actually denied these claims at that time. Instead, when approached by reporters he gave a better answer which was recorded in a Cyprus Mail article: “That's my business, not yours.”
The second newspaper report actually quotes photographical evidence. ekathimerini reports in August 2002 that he “has been snapped in the nude by a paparazzi photographer [..] naked from the waist up by his car”. The paper cites Chrysostomos confirming that “he had been swimming at the same secluded spot for 15 years”. What a scandal! Well, what he also says is that was changing cloths.
A very similar story appears as part of a recent an interview with the archbishop in Politis. His predecessor confronted him with a photo that he had received; it allegedly shows him lying naked on a mattress on the beach. Chrysostomos maintains that the photo is doctored. He says it would not make sense to bring a foam mattress on the beach which would not even fit into the car; also the body shape does not match. We also learn the end of the story: the former archbishop teared the photo apart.