BBC: Boy George returns Christ icon to Cyprus church
(h/t for article: tanker on the horizon; for title: buzzsawmonkey)
Musician Boy George has agreed to return to the Church of Cyprus an icon of Christ that came into his possession 11 years after the Turkish invasion.
The former Culture Club singer bought the piece from a London art dealer in 1985 without knowing its origin.
Boy George – real name George O’Dowd – said he was “happy the icon is going back to its original rightful home”.
“I have always been a friend of Cyprus and have looked after the icon for 26 years,” he added.
“I look forward to seeing the icon on display in Cyprus for the moment and finally to the Church of St Charalambos from where it was illegally stolen.”
The goodwill gesture came about after the church in New Chorio-Kythrea village gave evidence proving it was its rightful owner.
Bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis expressed “joy and gratitude” as the singer handed over the icon at the St Anagyre church in north London.
The gesture, he said, had “contributed to the efforts of the Church of Cyprus for the repatriation of its stolen spiritual treasures”.
Thousands of religious artefacts went missing from northern Cyprus following Turkey’s invasion of the island and its subsequent partition.
‘I didn’t know it was stolen’: Boy George hands back religious icon
British pop star Boy George has given back to Cyprus an 18th century icon after unwittingly buying the stolen artefact 26 years ago from a London dealer, the Cyprus Orthodox Church said.
An eagle-eyed priest had spotted the post-Byzantine icon of Christ hanging on the former Culture Club singer’s wall during a Dutch television show.
The clergy recognised the icon as the one stolen from Saint Charalambos church in the village of Neo Chorio Kythreas in Turkish-held northern Cyprus.
Church officials then contacted the singer and provided documentation of its origin from experts and testimony from the parish priest from where the 300-year-old icon was taken.
According to the Church of Cyprus, Boy George, 49, bought the icon in 1985 from an art dealer in London, but was unaware of its origin.
“The singer agreed to return the icon, expressing his wish that it is returned soon to the church from which it was illegally removed and hoped others follow his example,” a church statement said.
[…]
The decision by the 1980s pop star to hand the icon back was praised by the head of the church.“This act does move us because he was the buyer,” Archbishop Chrysostomos II told reporters in Nicosia.
“Certainly it can be said that he was in illegal possession of the icon but he wasn’t somebody looking to sell it.
“The moment he learned the icon was stolen he did a good deed and returned it to the Cyprus Church where it belongs.
“We thank him for this and if he ever comes to Cyprus definitely we will welcome him with hospitality,” said the archbishop.
[…]
Since the 1974 Turkish invasion hundreds of valuable artefacts have been stolen from the north and found their way onto the black market.The Cyprus Church has been active in retrying to reclaim stolen treasures through the courts.
It says more than 500 churches have been pillaged and many archaeological and other cultural heritage sites have been abandoned to the elements.
Progress is being made in returning some other Church treasures stolen by the Turkish invaders, although it has been a long, hard struggle:
Treasures to be repatriated
NICOSIA – A Munich court in Germany has ordered the return to the Cyprus Church of a large number of Cypriot religious items confiscated years ago in the possession of Turkish art smuggler Aidin Dikmen, the Government’s legal department has confirmed.
They include wall paintings, mosaics, icons and other holy relics stolen from Christian Orthodox churches and monasteries in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus.
The court also ordered Dikmen to return a substantial amount of money which the Cyprus Church had paid to him in order to repossess two particular icons. The deal aimed at leading investigators to the rest of the stolen art treasure.
In a raid by Interpol and the Bavarian police in October 1997 they were found hidden in the walls of Dikmen’s Munich apartment and the Turkish smuggler was put under arrest.
However, due to the time limitations of the Bavarian law he was later released, while the antiquities remained in the custody of the local authorities. In 2004, the Cyprus Church jointly with the Republic of Cyprus launched a civil action for the recovery of the treasures in which they had to prove the Cypriot origin of each one separately, by stating the exact place from which they were stolen.
The court decision is subject to appeal but it is considered difficult for Dikmen to follow this option.
Tags: Cyprus, Greece, icons, Orthodox Christianity
