Bishop Neophytos of Morphou claimed on Thursday that Nikola Tesla, not Thomas Edison, “invented electricity”, while using a sermon to make a series of disputed assertions about his scientific achievements.

Speaking during a liturgy at the Prophet Elias chapel in Evrychou, Neophytos described Tesla as “the greatest inventor of the 20th century” and attributed the invention of electricity to him rather than American inventor Thomas Edison.

“The greatest inventor of the 20th century was a Serb, Nikola Tesla. His father was a priest, Serbian Orthodox. He is the one who invented the electricity we have, he is not Edison as the Jews tell us”, he said.

The bishop went on to claim Tesla was “the father of computers” and alleged he had developed methods to trigger earthquakes, bring rain and cause drought.

Neophytos said Tesla had ultimately concluded that “everything is frequencies”, asserting that God had placed those frequencies within creation for humanity to understand.

The bishop also claimed many people believed Tesla had received divine enlightenment, saying God had created the world “for good” and intended people to uncover its underlying principles.

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian inventor and electrical engineer whose work on alternating current systems transformed the generation and transmission of electricity.

Electricity itself was not invented by either Tesla or Edison, while both men made major contributions to science through different inventions and innovations.