A woman indecently assaulted by a former bishop when she was a teenager expects the Holy Synod to excommunicate him when they meet to decide on the shameful case on Tuesday.
The victim, who was 16 when former Bishop Chrysostomos of Kition assaulted her back in 1981, also told Philenews that he showed absolutely no remorse after his suspended jail sentence.
On Friday, the disgraced bishop who is now 85 and in poor health, filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against his suspended jail sentence.
On June 1, the female judge at Larnaca District Court handed down the suspended 12-month jail sentence against him saying the decision had been bound by the laws in force at the time of the offence.
And that the Court had also taken into account the high ranking cleric’s age and failing health. Nonetheless, the sentence was greeted by jeers and chants of “rapist”.
The verdict noted that Chrysostomos appeared to “cleverly” set his plan in motion by choosing the time and place of their meetings so the victim would be alone with him. The teenager had then reached out to the bishop for financial support after losing her father.
Chrysostomos’ conviction was a rare instance in which a senior member of the island’s influential Orthodox Church – even if no longer in office – has faced the full weight of the law.
