A row broke out in Cyprus this week between church and state. President Christiofias, who has led the Greek Cypriots since February of this year, was publicly criticised by the Bishop of Paphos Georgios, who was speaking on behalf of Archbishop Chrystostomos, over his progressive attitude to the Cyprus Problem and his well known desire for reunification between the two sides.

The churchmen complained that the problem was no longer viewed in the terms of invasion and occupation but instead in the terms of inequality between two separate communities. The Archbishop, who's comments have come at a time when the mood toward reunification is moving from pessimism toward optimism, went on to raise serious concerns over the notion of the rotating presidency that Christiofias's government have placed as a possibility for post-reunification politics.

Speaking at the annual conference of overseas Cypriots, which took place earlier this week at the Hilton Hotel, Nicosia, Georgios, on behalf of the Archbishop who, though absent, instructed him what to write, said that the Greek Cypriots had been overwhelmed with defeatism.

"Our positions have steadily converged towards those of the Turkish side, which has not budged at all,