Reactionary Christodoulos Finally Settles on a Position

Greece's Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, who eased centuries of tension with the Vatican but angered liberal critics who viewed him as an attention-seeking reactionary, died Monday at his home of cancer, church officials said. He was 69.

Christodoulos, who headed the church for a decade, was first hospitalized in Athens in June before being diagnosed with cancer of the liver and large intestine.

He spent 10 weeks in a hospital in Miami but an October liver transplant operation was canceled when doctors discovered the cancer had spread. He refused hospital treatment in the final weeks of his life.

The ancient Greeks believed that "at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind." That means that Christodoulos is now accompanied by the Gods of the wind - Boreas, Zephyr, Notus and Eurus.

[AP]