Makarios III

Who is Makarios III?

Makarios III, born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos in the village of Panayia in 1913, was the Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. Entering the Kykkos Monastery as a novice in his teens, he pursued theological and legal studies at the University of Athens before being ordained and eventually elected Archbishop of Cyprus in 1950 at the age of thirty-seven, a position that carried both religious authority and the historic role of ethnarch, or national political leader, of the Greek Cypriot community. Makarios became a prominent advocate for Cypriot self-determination during the island's struggle against British colonial rule in the 1950s, and after Cyprus gained independence in 1960 he was elected its first president, a post he held until a briefly successful coup against him in July 1974, after which he was restored to office later that year and served until his death in 1977. His presidency spanned the difficult years of intercommunal tension between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and the 1974 crisis that led to the island's division. Widely regarded as the founding father of the modern Cypriot state, Makarios remains one of the most consequential figures in twentieth-century Cypriot history.

Sources: Britannica, "Makarios III" · Wikipedia, "Makarios III" · New World Encyclopedia, "Makarios III"