John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton Cyprus crisis. However, negotiations with Archbishop Makarios III were unsuccessful and, eventually, Harding exiled Makarios to the British colony of Seychelles. On 21 March 1956 EOKA made an assassination attempt on Harding's life which failed as the time bomb under his bed failed to go off. It was not long after this that Harding offered a reward of £10,000 for General George Grivas, the leader of EOKA. Facing growing criticism in the United Kingdom about the methods he used and their lack of effectiveness, Sir John Harding resigned as Governor of Cyprus on 22 October 1957 and was replaced by
Christianity in Cyprus became known, had major consequences for the Church of Cyprus. Under Lusignan and Venetian rule, the Church of Cyprus was pressured to recognize the authority of the Roman pope. Under the British, there was an attempt to secularize all public institutions, but this move was bitterly opposed by Church authorities, who used the conflict with the state to gain leadership of the Greek nationalist movement against colonial rule. At independence Archbishop Makarios III, a former monk, was elected president of the republic, holding this position until his death in 1977. His successor, Archbishop Chrysostomos, was head of the Church of