Greek Orthodox Church in turmoil

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Fri 4 February 2005 6:05 pm

http://www.wpherald.com/Europe/storyvie ... 1148-2142r

Greek Orthodox Church in turmoil
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Published February 4, 2005

ATHENS, Greece -- Greek authorities hunted for an influential Orthodox cleric Friday amid a widening scandal that threatens to engulf the church's top leaders.

Code: Select all

Police issued an arrest warrant for Iakovos Yiossakis, a close associate of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, as the church's Holy Synod called for an internal inquiry into a ring of priests accused of bribing top judges and lawyers in return for favorable rulings.

The scandal involves allegations of payoffs, secret funds and sexual favors, the Independent reported.

Besides priests, a number of judges and lawyers are being criminally investigated for allegedly helping get suspected drug dealers acquitted, involvement in prostitution and influencing church elections.

Earlier this week, Metropolitan Bishop Ieronimos said he had been "discouraged" from running for the archbishopric in 1998 by a senior judge and threatened by a priest now under investigation.

Ieronimos has accused Christodoulos of using Yiossakis to blackmail him so that he would not stand against him in the ecclesiastical elections. The archbishop denies the claims.

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Sat 5 February 2005 1:17 pm

All of this is very sad. But one interesting thing is if this were an Old Calendarist Synod, the rest of the Orthodox world would be grumbling, "See! We told you those Old Calendarists are nothing but trash!" but instead, there is no reaction to this.

Anastasios

Chrysostomos · Post by **Chrysostomos** » Sat 5 February 2005 9:17 pm

Honestly Anastasios, I would sincerely believe it was a very saddening thing to hear, whether "New" or "Old" Calendar. Does it really matter which "Calendar" they were under, rather than their falling into sin. Brothers in Christ, who have fallen, is sad in any instance.

Rd. Chrysostomos

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Sun 6 February 2005 4:05 pm

Anastasios,
Someone just very recently mentioned about an "Old calendar" priest being brought up on charges of fraud here in Chicago. I guess this priest was seeking special donations from parishioners "for his daughters wedding", and an cancer stricken person from another parish. This preist raised over $600,000 and had all of this money in personal accounts.

Anyway, as it turns out, it was the priest from that Paisios parish in Chicago we talked about before. (This church btw is a regular Byzantine style church attached to a house)

With regard to the thread topic, several of the priests and layman involved were excommunicated from our synod.

Truly sad to read; and I think you are right, if this were an "Old Calendar" synod they would be jumped!

George Australia · Post by **George Australia** » Mon 7 February 2005 7:46 am

OrthodoxyOrDeath wrote:
Truly sad to read; and I think you are right, if this were an "Old Calendar" synod they would be jumped!

Dear in Christ OOD,
It did happen in an Old Calendar juristiction as you pointed out....and nobody jumped on them.
None of this is new to the Church. On June 9/22, we commemorate the Five Nuns beheaded in Persia: Thecla, Mariamne, Martha, Mary, & Enmatha. These nuns were betrayed by their priest in AD346 who succumbed to avarice and encouraged them to join him in accepting the king's idolatry in return for for monetary gain.
Neither a priest's sanctity nor his sin effects the Mysteries he performs- this is an Orthodox doctrine, and that's all we need to know. It is the heterodox who busy themselves studying the conduct of others rather than attending to their own souls.
Woe to anyone who allows himself to become a voice for the enemy of the Church.
George

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Mon 7 February 2005 12:56 pm

Chrysostomos wrote:
Honestly Anastasios, I would sincerely believe it was a very saddening thing to hear, whether "New" or "Old" Calendar. Does it really matter which "Calendar" they were under, rather than their falling into sin. Brothers in Christ, who have fallen, is sad in any instance.

Rd. Chrysostomos

Right, which is why I said it was sad. I am just pointing out that there is a clear double standard.

Anastasios

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Mon 7 February 2005 1:15 pm

Church Crisis Deepens 07 Feb 2005 12:14:00

Holy Synod meets in heavy atmosphere

The Holy Synod is meeting today in an especially heavy atmosphere, in a gathering chaired by Archbishop Christodoulos, as accusations increase regarding the involvement of senior church members in the extrajudicial gang, while feuds are ongoing between Metropolitan Bishops regarding revelations of immorality and lack of transparency in the ranks of the Church. Besides this, the Misdemeanour Council is today to decide whether or not to remand Iakovos Giosakis in custody. In the meantime, tomorrow Metropolitan Bishop Theoklitos of Thessaliotida is expected to submit his defence. At the same time, there are several metropolitan bishops who have asked their flocks to close their eyes and ears to what is going on, on the pretext that it is all an orchestrated attack against the Church, while the ecclesiastic issue has also triggered discussion in the political world. Archbishop Christodoulos spoke of a direct attack on the Church and said that he was the flagbearer of autocatharsis.

Reactions from the Political World

PASOK’s president Giorgos Papandreou called for the institutions of the Church to be weaned away from the state, referring to the crisis afflicting the hierarchy and recalling the discussion on the relation between Church and State "The Church of Greece is a chapter in the history and tradition of Greek identity. Its range of influence regards the wider Greek community and Orthodoxy. It has a great spiritual and social role. Noone should wish to degrade institutions with such weight on the consciousness of Greek citizens, such as the Church and Justice," stresses Mr Papandreou in Nea newspaper, underlining "From the first moment we stressed that they should get their house in order. And they really should do so, with transparency and a feeling of responsibility. Self-protection and autocatharsis are elementary obligations."

SYN’s president Alekos Alavanos asked the PM on the matter, as he said today in a Press Conference in Zappeio Mansion on the issue of the division between state and church after the recent scandal.