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Published by the Church of
Greece, May 7, 2004
The positions of the Church of Greece in relation
to the issue of the Metropolises of the so-called
New Lands
From
the e-newsletter published by the Web Unit of the
Church of Greece
The Editor: Pan. Drakopoulos
Vol. 221 7 May 2004
HISTORY
- Following the victorious Balkan Wars (1912-1913)
the provinces of Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace
were incorporated in the Greek State. At the same
time, negotiations with the Ecumenical
Patriarchate began to the purpose of the
respective incorporation, in the Church of Greece,
of the Metropolises of these lands, which, from an
ecclesiastical point of view, belonged to the
Patriarchate until then. This incorporation had
previously been applied in the cases of the
Metropolises of the Ionian Islands and of
Thessaly, as soon as these areas were incorporated
in the Greek state.
- In the case of the New Lands, the Patriarchate
showed a delay in satisfying the reasonable
request of Greece (i.e. the Government and the
Church) and as a result, in 1928, the Government
(under Eleftherios Venizelos) issued a law (no.
3615), according to which these Metropolises were
incorporated in the Church of Greece.
- Subsequently, it was the Patriarchate which
issued the Patriarchal and Synodal Act of
September 4, 1928, by which It stated that It
ceded the administration of these Metropolises to
the Church of Greece by way of trusteeship, and
set Its terms, one of which was Its prior approval
of the Catalogue of candidates for the Hierarchy
of the Metropolises of the New Lands and another
regarded Its right to propose candidates for
inclusion in this Catalogue.
- As soon as the Church of Greece received the
aforementioned Act, It issued Its Act of
20-11-1928, in which It accepted the incorporation
of the Metropolises in It, but expressed
objections to certain terms and particularly to
the term providing for the approval of the
Catalogue, and invoked the legislation in effect
at that time. There followed an exchange of
letters between the two Churches, and as a result
the Patriarchate accepted the amendments proposed
by the Church of Greece and, in relation to the
Catalogue, accepted the right of the Patriarchate
only to propose names of candidates for inclusion
in the Catalogue. The amendments of the Act of
1928, which were agreed upon in 1928, have been in
effect since, in other words, for 75 years up to
now.
- In July 2003, after the departure of the
Metropolitan of Thessaloniki from life, the
Patriarch Bartholomaios asked the Church of Greece
in writing, for the first time, to submit to him
the Catalogue of candidates for his approval,
invoking the original text of the Act of 1928 and
ignoring the amendments which had been made to it
in 1929 by common consent. It is worth noting that
these amendments were finally adopted by Greek
legislation and particularly by the Law no. 590/77
"Of the Statutory Charter of the Church of
Greece".
- Naturally, the Church of Greece refused to
accept the submission of the Catalogue for
approval, invoking both the subsequent amendments
of 1929 to the relevant provision and the Law
590/77, and stating that It was obliged to observe
the laws of the Greek state as well as the Holy
Canons. Even so, It sent the Catalogue to the
Patriarch so that he may exercise his lawful
rights, namely to suggest names of eventual
candidates, which, however, should be enrolled
after the legal procedure provided by the
Statutory Charter (law 590/77). Otherwise, any
enrollment effected against the law would be
invalid, according to the explicit provision of
the law.
- After successive letters were exchanged between
Constantinople and Athens, the Holy Synod of the
Hierarchy of the Church of Greece was convoked
extraordinarily in November 4-6, 2003,
specifically for this issue, and decided, by an
overwhelming majority, to state to the
Patriarchate:
a. that It respected the Patriarchal Act of 1928
as this applies, namely with the effected
amendments and according to the legal procedures;
b. that It would send the Catalogue of candidates
to the Patriarchate, so that the latter may
exercise Its rights as these ensued from the
Statutory Charter.
- In a new letter of December 1, 2003, the
Patriarchate insisted on not recognising the rule
of law in Greece, namely the Statutory Charter,
and asked to approve the Catalogue, against the
law, and to enroll in it, as of sovereign right,
names of candidates to Its own liking without
further procedure, that is definitively ?
something which was also against the law and the
agreements. To this document the Church of Greece
has not replied yet, in order not to exacerbate
the situation any further, but opted for the path
of negotiations in search of a solution by mutual
agreement.
- Within the framework of the aforementioned
procedure, about 14 delegations were sent from
Athens to Constantinople with concrete proposals.
They stumbled upon a wall of intransigence. Thence
the decision under item no. 7(a) above of the
extraordinary session of the Hierarchy.
- Finally, in February 2004 the Patriarchate
presented Its own text to the delegates of the
Church of Greece, asking that it be accepted by
our Church. This document was accepted by the
Standing Holy Synod with a minor modification also
accepted by the Patriarchate, and was finally sent
to It by the Synodal document of March 8, 2004.
The text reads as follows: "The Church of Greece,
confirming that the administration of the Holy
Metropolises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
Northern Greece and in the
Islands (the so-called New Lands) has been
assigned to the Church of Greece by way of
trusteeship, by virtue of the Patriarchal and
Synodal Act of September 4, 1928, and has been
exercised by our Church in conformity with the
Holy Canons and the rules of law in effect, sends
the Catalogue of the candidates eligible for
Hierarchy to You, in view of the filling of those
of the aforementioned Holy Metropolises which
remain vacant, namely the Holy Metropolises of
Thessaloniki, of Eleftheroupolis and of Servia and
Kozani, so that You may exercise the rights of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate". At the same time and by
the same dispatch the Church of Greece sent the
Catalogue again, so that the Patriarch may
exercise his rights in accordance with the rules
of law in effect, while It also announced that It
intended to proceed to the filling of the vacant
Holy Metropolises either by election or by
transfer, precisely as is provided by the
Statutory Charter and as has
always been the case.
- The Patriarchate replied by Its document of
March 31, 2004, by which It made known to the
Church of Greece that It approved the Catalogue
(something which It had not been asked to do by
the Church of Greece), that It awaited the
Church's answer to his Letter of December 1, 2003,
that It asked the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy,
which was to be convoked, to ratify the decision
of March 1, 2004, made by the Standing Holy Synod
(the so-called small Synod), and that It approved
the filling only of the Holy Metropolis
of Thessaloniki by transfer (which It had not benn
asked to do, either). That document gave one
every reason to believe that the ordeal of our two
Churches, which had lasted for 10 months, was
finally over. That is why it was decided that the
Hierarchy be convoked to ratify the decision of
the Standing Holy Synod and to fill the vacant
Holy Metropolises. But, on April 20, 2004, a new
letter of the Patriarch arrived, by which he asked
that the answer to the Patriarchal letter of
December 1, 2004 be sent to him before
the election and that the decision of November
2003 of the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy be
annulled (see item 7 above). This was not accepted
by the Standing Holy Synod, which referred the
whole issue to the Hierarchy. The latter convened
on April 24, 2004, with the following items on Its
agenda:
1. Ratification of the decision of the Standing
Holy Synod of March 1, 2004 (see item 10 above),
and 2. Filling of the vacant Holy Metropolises of
Thessaloniki, of Eleftheroupolis, of Servia and
Kozani, and of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki.
THE POSITIONS OF THE CHURCH OF GREECE
- In order to appease any concern of the
Patriarchate, the Church of Greece has stated
officially that It does not seek the reversal of
the ecclesiastic regime of the New Lands. (See the
relevant decision of the Holy Synod of the
Hierarchy under item no. [7a] above.) On the
contrary, the Church of Greece asks that the
regime which has been in effect for 75 years
remain and be respected in the exact form in which
it has been in effect.
- The Church of Greece is obliged to observe the
laws of the Greek state and indeed the Statutory
Charter. Any deviation from it constitutes a
breach of the law, leading to invalidation
subsequent to appeals to the Supreme
Administrative Court of the State.
- The Church of Greece has made concessions to the
Patriarch, but without breaking the law. Thus,
beside the decision referred to under no (B.)1
above, It stated that It respects and observes the
Act of 1928 as this latter applies to this day,
and also accepted that the Patriarch's name be
commemorated in the Divine Liturgy by the
Metropolitans of the New Lands, not as the
Statutory Charter (article 28) provides but as the
Patriarch
insisted. Finally, It accepted that the Catalogue
be sent to the Patriarchate, so that it be made
easier for the Patriarch to suggest names of
candidates for inclusion in it.
- The Church of Greece does not consent to
transgress against the agreements concluded as
early as 1929 and observed to this day. In
accordance with these, the Patriarch may not (a)
enroll on his own in the Catalogue whomever he
wishes without the mediation of the Holy Synod of
the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, (b) approve
transfers from one Metropolis to another.
- Eventual acceptance of these new claims of the
Patriarch would not constitute only a breach of
law or a transgression against the agreements, but
would essentially undermine the Autocephalous
nature of the Church of Greece. The Church of
Greece has stood and still stands by the
Patriarchate, assigning today about 150 of Its
clergymen for the manning of an equal number of
parish priests in the Greek Diaspora, and
systematically
supporting every canonical proposal of the
Patriarchate. But this does not mean that the
Church of Greece will be laid bare of the
self-government which It enjoys by virtue of Its
being Autocephalous.
- The Greek government will protect the rule of
law in the country.
- The Church of Greece has made every effort and
has done everything in Its power to settle the
issue by common assent. The Patriarchate returns
to Its original position, despite Its agreement
upon a text of common acceptance. This is how we
have been led to a deadlock. (Transl. by Dr
Nikolaos C. Petropoulos)
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