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completely in favour of Colonel Warren, it is not necessary to; enter upon minute details ;   but, as  the plaintiff was the   Bishop   of  Citium,   and   this   first  public   attack created  a  peculiar  agitation   that  will   probably  be repeated, it may be interesting to examine the actual. position of the. Greek Church as it existed during the Turkish administration.
The   Church   in   Cyprus    is    represented   by   an Archbishop and three Bishops as the acknowledged heads. The diocese of the former comprises Lefkosia, Famagousta, and the Carpas districts, while the three Bishoprics are those of Larnaca or Citium, Kyrenia, and   Baffo.The revenues of the Archbishop amount to about £2000 a year, and the necessary expenditure for staff, schools, &c, to ,£1500. The Bishopric of Baffo is the richest, with a revenue of about £1000; at the same time the outgoings are small, amounting to £300 a year for the payment of his staff, and one-fifth of the expenses of a public school.
The Bishopric of Larnaca or Citium is valued at about £900 a year, but the expenditure is confined to £200. That of Kyrenia is about the same as Citium. There is no possibility of determining an exact figure, as these revenues are dependent upon voluntary payments, which cannot be enforced by any statute; but there is a «Berat» (decree) which invites the local authorities to render the bishops assistance in the collection of their revenues, without the absolute enforcement of any payments. No amounts due to the bishops for either canonical, ecclesiastical, or alms (Zitia), can be recovered through a court of law. On the other hand, the all-powerful countenance afforded by the Turkish government represented by public functionaries (zaphtiehs), who accompanied the bishops during their diocesan visits upon a tour of collection, was a moral influence that succeeded in extorting the unwilling fees. In case of a defaulting village, it is said that a bishop has been known to suspend the functions of the priest until the necessary payments should be completed by his   parishioners, who, thus  temporarily cut off from all ghostly comfort, hastened to arrive at a pecuniary compromise.
The monasteries are an important institution throughout Cyprus, and there is a decided difference between the monks of these establishments and the general priesthood. The monks are supposed to devote their lives to charitable objects ; they are not allowed to marry, and they have a superior education, as all can read and write. On the other hand, the priests are grossly ignorant, and it is computed that only a quarter of their number could even write their own names. These are allowed to marry one wife, but they cannot re-marry in the event of her decease ; they are generally poor to a superla­tive degree, and are frequently obliged to work for hire like common labourers. Should a man desire to become a priest, it is only necessary that he should be recommended by the inhabitants of his village as a person of good reputation that would be suit­able for the office: he is then ordained by the bishop upon payment of a fee of about one hundred piastres (or 150), and he is at once at liberty to enter upon his duties. These ordination fees are a tempta­tion to the bishops to increase the number of priests to ад unlimited extent, and the result is seen throughout Cyprus in a large and superfluous body of the most ignorant people, totally unfitted for their position.
The monasteries vary in their revenues, as they have derived their possessions at different periods from grants of land, or private gifts, or legacies. In like manner with the bishops, although they cannot legally compel the villagers to pay according to their demands, they assumed a power which by long sufferance had become recognised by the ignorant peasantry, who reluctantly acceded to their claims. I have myself witnessed an altercation between the monks and shepherds on the mountains upon a question of cheeses and goats, which the former claimed as annually due to the monastery ; it appeared that prior to the British occupation they had been  able by threats to extort this demand, but the shepherds had now deter­mined to free themselves from all payments beyond those which the law compelled, and they resisted the priestly authority, before which they had hitherto re­mained as slaves. This spirit of independence that has been so quickly developed by the equity of British rule will probably extend, and may seriously interfere with the revenues of the Church, should the population determine to abide by their legal status and  refuse the ordinary fees. It cannot be expected that either bishops, monks, or priests regard this change with satisfaction, and in their hearts they may sigh for the good old times of a Turkish administration, when the Greek   Church  of  Cyprus  was  an imperium in imperio that could sway both the minds and purses of the multitude, untouched by laws or equity, and morally supported by the government.

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