Orthodox Church leaflet blasts Lions, Scouts, Masons, Rotary

Cyprus Mail

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=18272&cat_id=1

By By Jean Christou

February 9, 2005

THE Pancyprian Christian Orthodox Movement has issued a booklet claiming that the Lions and Rotary Clubs and the Boy Scouts are recruiting grounds for Freemasonry.

“Masons are the Trojan Horse in our state,” said the booklet, 50,000 copies of which have been printed.

“They are traitors not only to the faith but to the country. They are a Jewish Zionist organization, whose objective is to destroy Christianity and to enslave the country.”

The leaflet also claims that Masons were behind the Greek junta, which orchestrated the coup that led to the invasion of Cyprus.

Representatives of the Orthodox Movement could not be reached for comment yesterday, and neither could a spokesman for Kykkos Monastery, under whose auspices the orgnisation is listed.
In February 1993, the Holy Synod issued a circular saying Freemasonry was a known organisation outside the Church, “with a world view that does not agree with the principles of our Orthodox faith”. The Church condemned the movement again in February 2000.

The latest booklet includes the Lions, Rotary and Boy Scouts as being linked to Freemasonry.

“The Masons admit to being behind these clubs, which work for their aims of social reform,” the booklet said. “The Lions were founded by Melvin Jones, who was a Mason in service to the dark Zionist forces whose aim is world domination by Israel.

“They claim their aims are charitable when in reality they try to infiltrate society to recruit new members as a stepping stone to Freemasonry.”

It said the Rotarians were founded in 1905 under the pretence of being a charitable and cultural organisation in order to cover its secret aims. It was also set up by a Mason, as were the Boy Scouts two years later, the leaflet claimed.

“They take the children out of the Church and make them go camping and they forbid the Lord’s Prayer,” it said.

Rotary and Boy Scouts representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday but George Christodoulides, the president of the Lions Club Nicosia Cosmopolitan dismissed the claims.

“The Lions have no link whatsoever with the Freemasons except maybe if some members who are Lions are also Freemasons,” he said. “Freemasons have secret things. Lions don’t have anything secret. It’s a services organisation.”

According to the Lions website, the letters are an acronym for ‘Liberty, Intelligence, Our Nation’s Safety’, but Christodoulides said the organisation was not political.

“Politics are forbidden. It’s in the code,” he said.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

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