Cyprus: Orthodox Church leader welcomes election of neo-Nazi MPs

The leader of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos, has expressed satisfaction over the fact that neo-Nazis from the "National-People's Front" (ELAM) party made it into Parliament for the first time ever after Sunday's elections. Chrysostomos supports the deep conservatism of the Orthodox Church, which takes a hard line against the secularizing efforts of modern society and supports hate speech against minorities such as the LGBT community.

The Archbishop admitted on Cypriot television that he had not anticipated ELAM's success and that the final electoral results "satisfied" him. ELAM is a proud affiliate of Greece's ultra-right Golden Dawn party and will be represented in the legislature by two MPs.

During the financial crisis in Cyprus, Chrysostomos openly supported the idea of the country leaving the eurozone, i.e., no longer using the euro as the common currency along with several other EU countries. In the past he has also, for example, wanted to ban the screenings of the feature films about the child wizard Harry Potter, asserting that the films would incite interest in "Satanism" among both adults and children.