Next meeting at the Petraki Monastery

A closely watched meeting between members of a committee tasked by the standing Holy Synod with conducting dialogue with the current government, on the one hand, and the education and religious affairs minister, will take place on Tuesday at the Petraki Monastery in northern Athens.

The latest meeting comes within the framework of ongoing deliberations over the payroll regime for clergymen in Greece, as the Church’s hierarchy as well as the association representing Orthodox clerics in the country have expressed reservations over the government’s imitative, while also requesting more clarifications.

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos on Sunday announced that an extraordinary meeting of the Church’s hierarchy will be convened after contacts, between members of the committee and the government, are concluded.

His Beatitude Ieronymos added that the Church’s hierarchy will decide on the related matter, not the Holy Synod nor the Archbishop, in a statement he made during his arrival at the Oinofyta Center for Church Missions on Sunday afternoon.

Education Minister Kostas Gavroglu, on his part, said whatever pending issues remain are increasingly cleared up with dialogue with the Church. Gavroglu, nevertheless, referred to a “gap in information” regarding the under-discussion agreement between the Church and state, and especially over the government’s intent to change the regime governing the payroll system for clerics in the country.

The minister, whose portfolio includes religious affairs, made the statements in an interview the Athens News Agency.

“For the first time, the clergy is safeguarded, in a manner in which they must be safeguarded in a modern European state,” Gavroglu said.

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