Greek Orthodox

From Today’s Zaman (Dec. 24). No statement yet on the Patriarchate’s site.

The patriarchate’s statement said: “There are similar idioms in all languages, and they are not evaluated in their narrow meanings but in their broad sense in that language. While answering questions in that regard, the patriarch obviously did not intend to imply any pressure from our government.” The statement also said that there was a need to make a public announcement about the issue because the patriarch’s words were interpreted in a way that goes beyond their meaning.

Turkish government officials continue to denounce the patriarch for his crucifixion remark:

In İzmir, speaking at a conference organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç called the patriarch’s criticism “unacceptable,” while reiterating that Turkey doesn’t consider the patriarchate to be ecumenical in line with the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, which governs the status of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey. Continue reading →

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbEL-C7ypU[/youtube]

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church has warned the country’s new socialist government that it faces a major battle over removing religious symbols from schools. The European Court in Strasbourg has ordered Italy to take down crucifixes from its classrooms, and Greece’s Justice Minister has acknowledged that it may have to follow suit. From Lamia in Central Greece, Malcolm Brabant reports. “This is a major battle of faith, which is just beginning,” he says.

From Moscow, December 21 (RIA Novosti):

Europe’s future unthinkable without Christianity – Patriarch Kirill

The future of the European continent is impossible without taking into account its Christian heritage, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said Monday.

“People who attached great significance to European cultural and religious identity as an important element of pan-European wellbeing were among the EU originators,” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in a message to the European Union’s first President Herman Van Rompuy, who will take office from January.

“I hope… you will be able to pay attention to European international structures’ dialogue with Europe’s traditional religious communities, among which is the Russian Orthodox Church,” the message said.

“I believe it will lead us to the understanding that without being guided by Christian heritage, the future of the European continent is unthinkable,” it said.

In November the European Court of Human Rights ruled that crucifixes in Italian schools insult the feelings of children belonging to other faiths and atheists, and said the authorities should remove the Christian symbols. Italy’s government said it will appeal the ruling.

From the National Herald:

Judging from the massive, angry reaction of our readers so far, it is obvious that we have hit a nerve with our editorial in last week’s edition entitled “Give Us Your Property”, rejecting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s demand for “at least” a building from each one of our nine metropolises, in order, supposedly, to save the Patriarchate from the Turks.

A prominent member of the community – who asked us to withhold his name – went so far as to cite this demand as the justification for taking the first steps towards launching an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church in America.

While we fully understand his reaction, we do not see this as necessary.

As we stated in this space last week: “We wish there was a nicer way to say it, but this demand by Patriarch Bartholomew has crossed the line. It is so unacceptable and offensive, but also so revealing of his designs on our Church and its assets, that it raises many questions about his relationship to this community.”

In the same editorial, we cited five reasons why this demand should not be obeyed. We would like to offer one more this week:

The question arises as to who will be responsible for the taxes on buildings that might be transferred from our communities to the Patriarchate. This could amount to hundreds of thousand of dollars. Since we can safely assume that it will be our communities – that is, our people – that will be held liable, then this issue must be seriously considered.

We however, reached our conclusion last week. It is terrible idea and the request ought to be withdrawn as soon as possible. And it should be done by the signatory of the letter himself, Patriarch Bartholomew.