The Recognition of the Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia by the Church of Cyprus during the Presidency of Archbishop Makarios
https://doi.org/10.15829/2686-973X-2025-184
EDN: PDORMT
Abstract
This article investigates a hitherto overlooked episode in the history of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia, focusing on the position adopted by the Church of Cyprus during the archiepiscopacy of Makarios III — also the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. Particular attention is devoted to the role of the Soviet and Czechoslovak governments in obstructing recognition of Czechoslovak autocephaly by the Cypriot Church in 1951. The author assesses the diplomatic and ecclesiastical initiatives of the primate of the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church, supported by Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) of Moscow, to secure Archbishop Makarios’s acknowledgment of its autocephalous status. The findings shed new light on inter-Orthodox relations in the context of Cold War ecclesiastical diplomacy and contribute to a fuller understanding of Archbishop Makarios’s international significance within twentieth-century Eastern Orthodoxy.
About the Author
N. O. Pashkov
Belarusian State University
Belarus
Belarus
Nikodim O. Pashkov, Associate Professor
Faculty of International Relations; Department of International Relations
Minsk
Research interests: the history of the Republic of Cyprus in the 20th century, the history of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, the policy of President Archbishop Makarios, the role of the religious factor in international relations in the Middle East
References
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Review
For citations:
Pashkov N.O. The Recognition of the Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia by the Church of Cyprus during the Presidency of Archbishop Makarios. Russian Journal of Church History. 2025;6(2):80-89. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15829/2686-973X-2025-184. EDN: PDORMT
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