False Alarm - Archbishop Bones

A police investigation has ruled out the possibility that the remains of two deceased Archbishops were stolen from their tombs in Nicosia last night, said a spokeswoman.

Bones belonging to Archbishop Kyrillou II were removed from Ayiou Spiridonou Cemetary sometime in the past, and not last night, according to the investigation. Archbishop Sofroniou III's remains were most likely also removed in the past but this hypothesis still has to be confirmed, said police. The two Archbishops headed the Orthodox Church at the end of the 1800s and turn of the 1900s.

The alarm was raised early this morning amid the recent discovery on March 9th of former president Tassos Papadopoulos' remains in a cemetary in Strovolos. His body was allegedly stolen by prison inmate Antonis Prokopiou Kitas and his brother Mamas Prokopiou Kitas on December 11th, 2009. The suspects reportedly asked for money in exchange for information as to the whereabouts of the body.

Kitas is serving a life sentence for the murder of two women.