Archbishop Makarios III


Archbishop Makarios III was born on 13 Aug 1913 as Michael Christodoulou Mouskos, in Panayia, Paphos District. He was a novice at Kykkos Monastery at the age of 13, and was educated at the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia. During WW2 he studied theology and law in Athens. In 1942 he became a priest and went on to further studies in Boston University, USA. Whilst there he was appointed Bishop of Kition and returned to Cyprus with the clerical name of Makarios. Politically he supported enosis with Greece. He was elected Archbishop of Cyprus on 18 Sep 1950 at the young age of 37. As Archbishop he was the Ethnarch, leader of the Greek Cypriots.

In 1954 he was one of the instigators of raising the issue of Cyprus independence at the UN. This put him at odds with the British administration, but he was careful not to be openly associated with EOKA. Relations between the British and the Greek Cypriots broke down and Makarios was viewed as the cause of the discontent. In March 1956 he was abducted by Special Branch officers and exiled in the Seychelles. After a year he was released but was refused entry to Cyprus. He stayed in Athens for two years, but when negotiations opened to discuss Cyprus independence, he was invited to London. He had to relinquish his stance on enosis in favour of Cyprus self-government which put him out of favour in Athens.

Makarios returned to Cyprus on 1 March 1959, greeted by a huge crowd of celebrating Greek Cypriots. When elections were held for the Presidency he defeated Ioannis Klerides by winning two thirds of the votes. He took office on 16 Aug 1960 as President of all Cyprus, both Turkish and Greek. He took a conciliatory stance which angered hard-line supporters of enosis, and an attempt to assassinate him was made in 1970. In 1971 Grivas returned to Cyprus and EOKA-B fomented trouble against Makarios and between Greeks and Turks. He was also facing trouble from bishops who wanted him to resign. In January 1974 Grivas died, and later that year there was a coup organised by Dimitrios Ioannides, one of the Greek Colonels. The Presidential Palace came under attack and Makarios was rescued by a British helicopter. Cyprus was in the hands of Greeks and hard-line Greek Cypriots, and Makarios was once more in exile. Meanwhile the island was invaded by Turkish troops who occupied the northern part. Makarios returned after 5 months away but was unable to deal with the Turkish occupation. He died on 3 August 1977 after experiencing heart trouble.

This set of stamps was issued by the Cyprus Post on 10 Sept 1977 to commemorate the Archbishop’s death which occurred on 3 August 1977. It was the first time that his image had been reproduced on Cyprus postage stamps. A further set of 5 stamps and a mini-sheet were issued on 3 August 1978, the first anniversary of his death. He featured on two stamps issued on 1 Oct 1980 which commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus, and on a 25 cent stamp on 27 Oct 1983. He was on another 25 cent stamp on 24 June 1993 commemorating the 80th anniversary of his birth, 13 Aug 1913. On 1 Aug 1997 the 20th anniversary of his death was marked by a 15 cent stamp. The last time he appeared on a (85 cent) stamp, to date (2021) was on 30 Jan 2013 to celebrate 100 years since his birth. Below is a picture of Michael Mouskos as a clean-cut student in the 1940s. He was more famously known as the Archbishop Makarios with his beard and Orthodox Church robes.


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by Stephen Luscombe