Makarios III the British press as a crooked Cypriot priest and viewed with suspicion by the British authorities, was intercepted by Special Branch officers while attempting to board a flight at Nicosia airport. The joint police/military plan, codenamed Operation Apollo, saw Makarios exiled to Mahe Island in the Seychelles on 9 March 1956, as a 'guest' of Sir William Addis, Governor & Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles. The Archbishop and his staff were flown to Aden and then on to Mombasa. At the Kenyan port the party were embarked in the East African Naval Vessel "Rosalind", escorted by the frigate HMS "Loch Fada".
Church of Cyprus members of the legislative assembly. As a consequence of this uprising, bishops Nikodemos of Kition, and Makarios of Kyrenia were exiled, and restrictions were imposed on the election of the Archbishop. As a result, the filling of the Archbishop's throne was pending from 1933 (the death of Archbishop Kyrillos III) to 1946, when the Bishop of Paphos, Leontios, was elected as the new Archbishop. In 1950, Makarios III was elected Archbishop. While still Bishop of Kition he had demonstrated strong intellectual and national activity. In 1949 he founded the Apostle Varnavas Seminary, and in 1950 he organised the referendum on