Makarios II of Cyprus

Makarios II (Greek: Μακάριος Β΄; born Michail Charalambous Papaioannou [Μιχαήλ Χαραλάμπους Παπαϊωάννου]; 1870 – 28 June 1950) was the Archbishop of Cyprus from 1947 until 1950.

[1] Michail Charalambous Papaioannou was born in a Greek Cypriot family in the village of Prodromos, Ottoman Cyprus, in 1870.

He remained in Pangrati, Athens during World War II and returned to Cyprus on 22 December 1946.

Makarios II was elected Archbishop of Cyprus, without an opponent after the death of the Bishop of Kitium, on 24 December 1947.

[3] On 6 March 1950, shortly before the Israeli consulate opened in Nicosia, Makarios II sent a letter to the office of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, dated 10 February 1950, describing the support of the Greek Cypriot population in unification with Greece (enosis).