The Greek Orthodox Church is once again at the center of a debate on the Hellenic crisis.
This time the discussion is over the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece under Ieronymos II who, with a letter to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos a few days ago, rejected the German proposal for a tax commissioner in Greece and at the same time says he opposes the austerity measures which the European Union and the International Monetary Fund demand.
The economic situation in Greece continues to hang on the thread of negotiations with private creditors, with whom the Hellenic Government has agreed to cut yields on government bonds, but it will not be the last.
Without an agreement, however, it is unlikely that Athens can use the second aid package, which would amount to one hundred and thirty billion Euro.
Faced with this situation, European leaders, headed by Germany, are pushing for the Papademos government to proceed with implementing the measures required: from privatization of public enterprises to corrective actions on the budget, not to mention the big blow for the public sector with pay cuts and the dismissal of about thirty thousand employees.
Although on the one hand, in his letter, Archbishop Ieronymos voices his opinion on the situation of the so-called “real country”, praising the solidarity of the Greeks in addressing the serious economic crisis and declaring himself against the abolition of the minimum wage of $988 per month, the document also attacks European demands and defends Greek sovereignty in economic policy.
“There are requests for commitments”, the text says, “that do not solve the problem at all, but temporarily postpone the inevitable death of our economy. Meanwhile we are asked to guarantee national sovereignty. They want us to place a mortgage on our wealth and our cultural heritage.”
Even though the Greek newspaper Kathimerini stressed that this is the first explicitly political statement ever made by the Archbishop of Athens, the Greek church has long been engaged in talks with the government regarding taxes on its properties and state funds allocated for the salaries of parish priests, paid like public officials.
In recent months there have been controversies that accused the Greek church of not paying for the crises, like everyone else. The responses were not long in coming, according to the already beaten path of disclosing the sums paid in taxes.
A note from last September informs that in 2010 the Greek Church paid 2.5 million Euro in taxes, including 1.02 million on property and 1.4 on income. In 2010, the Greek Church came to an agreement with the then Papandreou government, thus becoming a reality subject to taxation.
In particular, government measures have introduced a tax of 20% on ecclesiastical and commercial activities and between 5 and 10% on donations made by persons not covered by anonymity.
To date, the Greek Church is the largest shareholder of the National Bank with a rate of 1.5% and, of course, with a representative on the Board of the bank: the Bishop of Ioannina Theoklitos.
The declaration by Ieronymos II in fact dates back to the beginning of 2012, reported by the Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, according to which the Greek church is willing to transfer part of its property assets to the State to help the country overcome the debt crisis.
The archbishop was said, on that occasion, to be “very optimistic about the possibilities of cooperation with the church on practical instruments to alleviate the sufferings of the needy”.
We must remember that, according to an estimate made by the Central Bank of Athens, the properties of the church would amount to seven hundred and two million Euro.
In 2010 the Greek Church has committed more than one hundred million Euro to social support activities for citizens in difficulty.
As stated by Vasilios Meichanetsidis, head of communication services for the archbishop of Athens, the church supplies from ten thousand to twenty thousand meals a day in the capital alone.
The new perspectives on social policy of the Athenian synod are oriented towards investments in land ownership (a total of one hundred and thirty thousand hectares) to finance projects of social solidarity.
This perspective should include a project for a photovoltaic power plant on property owned by the ancient monastery of Penteli, for which the monks are looking for investors for a sum of one billion Euro.
In a letter addressed last October to the President of the European Commission, Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy and the then President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, the Holy Synod of Athens has already clarified its position: “We cannot hope”, reads the text of the letter, “in a society where social justice does not prevail. Man, and in particular a European citizen, cannot be seen by managers as just a bank account. It would be a scandal if European leaders did not hear the protests of the citizens and if many citizens were exploited as consumer products” Pointing out the weaknesses of ethical policy and the European economy, the synodal document concludes by defining them “foreign occupational forces.”
Far from not deserving attention, the latest statements by Archbishop Ieronymos testify - as though it were still necessary - how much the Greek Orthodox Church constitutes an essential key to understanding the current situation and observe Hellenic developments (especially with the current minister Venizelos, very close to ecclesiastical circles).
In Greece, Christian Orthodoxy is the State religion and the Hellenic Constitution finds its first foundation in the Holy Trinity.
The link between civil and religious institutions has been a reality since the nineteenth century, when the Greek Church proclaimed itself autocephalous, gaining its independence from Constantinople.
It was also at the forefront of the anti-Ottoman Revolution and in the process of forming the Hellenic state.