What did Ieronymos ask Mitsotakis for the organic positions of clergy

The need to increase the organic positions of clergy, with the modernization of law 536/45, which provided for the State to contribute to the payment of 6,000 organic positions based on the then population of the country (7.5 million) was officially raised by Archbishop Jerome in his address to the Prime Minister at the Permanent Holy Synod.

Mr. Ieronymos noted that this number, even then, was less than the serving clergy (7,151), and for 76 years was not updated despite the population and housing development of the country, with which the state established new parishes beyond the law. .

According to the Archbishop, the regulation of the pending issue does not imply any additional budgetary burden, nor the legalization of any illegality or the conversion of permanent positions into organic ones. “It concerns the coordination of an outdated legislation to the current existing number of legally appointed and salaried staff of our Church and our Parishes.”

As Mr. Ieronymos also mentioned, the paid clergy of the Church of Greece were reduced from 2011 to September 2021 from 9,018 to 8,300, “contrary to the rumors 4 months ago for allegedly 4,000 new clergy appointments” and the new law calls for a framework for the organic positions of clergy to reflect the current reality.

He thanked both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education Niki Kerameos and their collaborators for “the window” because with a relevant law they regulated the studies of the priests – pastors of the villages and towns of the country.

In his address, the Archbishop also focused on the contribution of the vast majority to the government’s efforts to address the pandemic.

The address of the Archbishop in detail

“Your Excellency, Prime Minister,

I would like to express the satisfaction of both the High Priest brothers, the members of the Permanent Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, as well as me personally for your immediate response.

Your presence here today has no formal significance but is symbolic, with the theological meaning of the term symbol. From your visit today, this is signified and concluded. The already existing communication between us confirms the recognition of the need for the continuity and the evolution of the relations between us, of the Church-State Relations.

This is also a way of recognizing the need for the presence of the other. It was in this spirit that the foundations for the relations between the Church and the State were laid in our history.

Despite the individual, sometimes different, approaches to the various issues that arise, this spirit of the transaction is that it does not make any permanent dimension to the occasional disputes of the bases of that transaction. It always makes sense to think that we are all members of a great nation and we serve a great people, who never “go unnoticed.”

The imprint of the Church of Greece in Greek society was and will always be spiritual. But for Orthodoxy, life is One and is not divided into spiritual and biological. Man must first exist in order for his spiritual existence to flourish and bear fruit.

The Church cares for the whole Man because His Creator thus created him. The Church cares for all human communities because all of them are created by the innate need of man for coexistence and communion with others.

The Church of Greece, since the establishment of the Greek State, has been a sleepy helper in the public benefit work of the State. Εἶναι ἡ «σκέπουσα» τ «ν «ἀσκεπῶν», ἡ «θάλπουσα» τῶν ἀσθένῶν, ἡ «συντηροῦσα» την ἐλπίδα ἑνός λαόῦ που πολλά τις βρέθηκε σε ἀπογνωση. All these are achieved by the means offered by each era.
Today we are going through the beginning of the 21st century, a period with specific data in education, legal culture, economy and technology. The four pillars are interconnected to the extent that no other age has known. The Church of Greece, as the cell of Greek society in our country, wants to live, work, dream, create and offer, making the most of the modern Greek and European citizenship acquis, the of technology.

In this direction, in recent years we have worked intensively to formulate innovative development goals, which have no historical precedent.
We revise the regulations concerning the management and use of church property inviting their recovery and disengagement from legal and other difficulties what extent we are left with the aim of contributing to the national effort recovery and development of charity and social work of the Church with the light transparency and social accountability.

We expect, however, the always necessary understanding and assistance of the State for the Rooting, integration and implementation of our proposals in its own plans and we address to the State the democratic exponent of our and complete improvement of his living conditions.

The prospect of utilizing untapped real estate with social targeting and environmental significance has already aroused the interest of public and private bodies and we do not stop hoping that the benefit for the State and the society.

In this regard, we have submitted to the competent Ministers proposals for the above initiatives, as well as ideas for the rationalization of the legislation on the management of ecclesiastical property and the liquidation of perennials. It is an unfortunate result of these years of difficulties that to this day the Church of Cadastre appears to be the owner of considerable property, but financially it remains weak.

Mr. Prime Minister,

I would like to emphasize that all these years we had a good cooperation with your predecessors and we received their respect. This cooperation and respect continue uninterruptedly throughout your days and I express my gratitude to Your Excellency for your contribution, so as to further promote our understanding and mutual understanding.

The Prime Minister has settled the chronic issue of the administration and management of non-parish cemeteries (Distortion of the 11th resolution of the Fourth National Assembly of Argos on July 11, 29).

I would also like to thank our Minister Niki Kerameos and your distinguished colleagues for the “window” you opened and the hope you gave us, because by law you have regulated the studies of our priests and our countrymen. .

For the first time our Church after two hundred (200) years will have the majority of the Councils in the Ecclesiastical Schools. That is, in the selection of candidates to study for the priesthood, in the selection of their teachers and in the “learning” of the students.

I would also like to thank you for your recent financial support for the partial support of the Holy Dioceses during the difficult times of the pandemic.

We have prepared a Memorandum with the occasional pending cases between the State and the Church of Greece for consideration by a joint committee (small and short-term). Today, however, we would like to hear from you, if the issue of the modernization and rationalization of the legislation on the payment of the staff of the Church has advanced in your thought and in your program.

Although you are fully aware of this, I have to clarify in response to any misunderstanding, whether in good faith or not, that the above problem does not lie in the request for the establishment of new organic positions, or for the alleged permanence of a number of contractors. Our state-paid clergy have been appointed by acts legally published in the Government Gazette and known to the relevant Ministries, while holding positions in parishes, which have been established as legal entities under public law by the decrees of the State.

There is a need to modernize Law 536/1945, which provided for the contribution of the State to the payment of 6,000 organic positions based on the then population of the country (which was estimated at about 7.5 million). ⁇ Ἀριθμός αὐτός, ἀκόμα και τότε, ὑπολειπόταν τῶν ὑπηρετούντων κληρικῶν (7.151), και ἐπί 76 ἔτη δέν ἐπικαιροποιήθηκε. Due to the ever-increasing population and housing development, the State established new parishes with the consequence that the above limit has been exceeded. Today there are 8,168 parishes in the Church of Greece and each parish has at least one or more clergy positions, depending on its population, otherwise there is no legal entity. Consequently, for many years the legislation of 1945 has ceased to be compatible not only with the number of salaried clergymen appointed, but also with the number of legal persons to whom they were appointed and recommended. I note that the salaried clergy of the Church of Greece decreased from 2011 to September 2021 from 9,018 to 8,300, contrary to the spread 4 months ago for supposedly 4,000 new clergy appointments. The pending regulation does not imply any additional budgetary burden, whether it is the legalization of an illegality or the conversion of permanent posts into organic ones. Concerning the coordination of an outdated legislation towards the current existing number of legally appointed and salaried staff of our Church and our Parishes. The issue has a broad political consensus, and the previous Government publicly acknowledged (with the draft State-Church agreement of February 12, 2019) that it must rectify this legislative inconsistency.

Moreover, we must point out that continuous Synod recognizes responsible attitude Greek Government and struggle which made to stop the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19, preserving the national system health and protect human life, anagkazomenoi BE make difficult decisions.

In this national effort, the Orthodox Church of Greece was committed from the beginning (28.2.2020) and remains in solidarity with the Greek Government. The Permanent Holy Synod and the vast majority of the Hierarchs and the Holy Clergy constantly urge the faithful with announcements, Circulars, but also through personal pastoral care, to observe all the laws.

We want to make it clear once again that we are all working together with the Government and the medical community for the common goal of eradicating the pandemic and returning to normal living conditions. That is why we repeat this ὥra κληkklisi, which was addressed in person by the Permanent Holy Synod to all the Holy Clergy and the faithful people of the Church, to spread the coronavirus and to carry out the necessary diagnostic tests.

In addition, we ask everyone, clergy and laity, to be vaccinated, because this is the essential measure of protection against the pandemic, approved by the medical community.

All of the above constitute the official position of the Church of Greece, but also of the whole world of Orthodoxy and are and will be applied, in combination with the unwavering observance by all of us of the ρίων ἑκάστης πλευρᾶς, ἀφοῦ εἶναι ξεκάθαρο ὅτι τό κινδυνεῦον εἶναι ἡ Πίστη μας, ἀλλά ἡ είαγεία και ἡ ζωή τῶν πιστῶν.

Your Excellency, Prime Minister,

Your presence today seals the positivity of your Government towards the new page that has already begun to be written in the book of the History of the Church of Greece. The fate of our homeland and the Greek people is also the fate of the Church of Greece. The mother can not be complacent and ask for them when her children need her. What belongs to the Church of Greece, in the final analysis, belongs to the Greek society and its people.
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