A bill legalising cremation in south Cyprus was finally passed on Thursday after years of campaigning to bring about this change. The main objection had come from the Church of Cyprus which confirmed its objection to the practice by saying it would not carry out funeral services for deceased who state they want to be cremated.
“It is a human right for one to want to be cremated,” said Archbishop Chrysostomos. “It is their business. The church does not intend to carry out a service for a person who will declare beforehand that they want to be cremated.”
One religious Greek Cypriot explained why they were opposed to cremation.
“I believe that we should be buried. Our body is part of who we are and it’s disrespectful to burn a body. Our religion says that we don’t agree with burning a body because it’s a temple of the Holy Spirit; we shouldn’t intentionally destroy it. I think that people of our faith who want to be cremated, have effectively ‘left’ the church.”
Cynics said they believed the Church was opposed to cremation because of the money it stood to make from funerals. Whatever the law may say it will make little difference in the short term as there are no crematoria on the island and the government have no intention of building any.
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