Fifteen years since the election of Archbishop Hieronymos at the helm of the Church of Greece

Today marks fifteen years since the election of Archbishop Hieronymos at the helm of the Church of Greece. Archbishop Hieronymos was elected by the body of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece as its Primate on February 7, 2008.

Hierarchs characterize the archdiocese of Ieronymos as “quiet and substantial” in the last fifteen years. He managed many major crises that the Church of Greece was called to face and managed to bring them to an end with very positive results.

He renewed the Hierarchy by electing about 50 new metropolitans and restored relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in which the Church of Greece stands as a helper and supporter.

Shortly after assuming his duties, His Beatitude and the Church of Greece were called upon to shoulder the burden of managing the humanitarian crisis that came as a result of the economic crisis in Greece.

In an unprecedented and coordinated effort launched by the Church through the “Together we can” program, which formed the basis for the first major battle in the fight against the crisis, thousands of families throughout the country were supported through organized sit-downs and love meals and a network of social pharmacies and grocery stores created by the Church and still operating today.

He managed to create a humanitarian support mechanism that works perfectly, while private and public agencies cooperated with him. Over the last fifteen years, Archbishop Hieronymos has developed a network of institutions that benefits thousands of people annually. Model centers for children with special needs, nurseries, creative employment centers in Athens, centers for the elderly, modern European-level camps in Avlona, ​​Attica, a model Alzheimer’s Treatment Center, in Chalandri, and a model Gerontology center, in Dilesi, Attica.

At the same time, he created for the first time in the Church the Center for the Training of Clergy, a “school for priests” where to this day thousands of clergy from the cities or from the remote areas to Crete and the Dodecanese are taught live and online by specialized university professors and experts in their field of IT, modern pastoral care and how to manage contemporary social problems (human rights, other religions, oppression of minorities, etc.).

In the field of Culture, the Archbishop created the Model Center for Culture in Roof, the Library of the Archdiocese in the center of Athens and the Library that bears his name in Oinophyta of Boeotia. On his initiative, a School of Byzantine and Traditional Music was also created to teach our musical tradition to the next generations.

At the time of the financial crisis, the Archdiocese of Athens, at the suggestion of Archbishop Ieronymos, created the Social Tutoring School of the Archdiocese of Athens, where every year hundreds of high school and high school students who do not have the financial means for remedial teaching attend completely free of charge.

Additionally, it strengthened the Family Support Center of the Archdiocese, which has undertaken excellent programs and actions to support vulnerable families, unmarried mothers, etc. During the pandemic, the official Church cooperated perfectly with the State and together they faced the polemic that developed against science. In a sober way, he managed to manage the unprecedented situation and keep the faithful in their homes until the unprecedented health crisis passes.

In collaboration with the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Education Niki Kerameos, Archbishop Ieronymos legalized the positions of thousands of clergy who were already being paid by the State, but were in the “air”, without their organic positions being secured, thus giving, after 70 years, an end to the insecurity of priests.

Besides, in recent years, the Archbishop has undertaken, in cooperation with the State, to put the finances of the Church in order, to secure the remaining church property, with the aim of its further utilization for the benefit of the Greek people, as from the income from the large investment projects (Schistos, Vouliagmeni, etc.) the charitable and social actions of the Church will be strengthened.

RES-EMP

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