The apology that the Church in Greece has not asked (yet?).

excerpt from the book "The Apology Due"

The "identity" of the New Greek

The glories, the ideas, dominate absolutely in only one way, that of imposition. If there is no enforcement, we will at some point now have a dimension or even a multitude of ideas and opinions, because it is human nature to investigate and ask questions, to learn and give a multitude of interpretations. The unique glory in a state, in a society, in such a large population and area as Byzantium and for such a long time, should make us suspicious of totalitarianism. This presentation tries to approach such a phenomenon in the Byzantine world, its components, but mainly its results.

The "negative role" and the action of the Church to prevail and maintain its power is a taboo subject for Greek society, due to the enormous power and involvement that the Church has with the State and its timeless influence on our society .

Except that this influence is particularly regressive, both on an individual and social level. In theory, we have been trying for two hundred years to become a democratic state of equality and prosperity, but we still have scattered serious signs of a creeping theocracy, inequality and irrationality, due perhaps to a power both official and unofficial at the same time. The action and ideology of the Church even today does not seem to be consistent with a democratic and favored rule of law and still favors phenomena of magic and witchcraft.

It is therefore useful, in order to understand her better, to follow both the elements of the historical path that led her to power and dominance, as well as her ideology, as she formulated it and applied it in practice.

Greek Culture is another subject that has – or perhaps should have – relevance to “Greekness”, a word which has many meanings. Greekness is what we use today to define the identity of the New Greek, while we have a vague opinion about it.

Why the Church?

This text, although it was in the making for a decade, began to be written on the occasion of a competition in 2020 (within the quarantine of Covid-19), a period in which we had clear indications of an antisocial role, of an overt dimension, but and a contrast of the majority (initially) of the Church with science and with the State. Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and while most scientists have clarified that the pandemic is due to an easily transmitted and particularly deadly virus, with an entry gate mainly the mouth, the Church through the hierarchy, through the monasteries, but also the often fanatical and flock led by wise elders', reacted by offering metaphysical justifications for the subject of holy communion, communion in temples, the handshake of priests, crucifixes and icons, the issue of protective masks, even vaccination, situations extremely dangerous in terms of the spread of the virus.

The entire hierarchy itself, ignoring our anemic (regarding it) political power, decided to outlaw the priests during the Epiphanies of 2021. Also, it appeared that as far as the anti-vaccination movement is concerned, beyond those who did it out of pure negative and anti-government position and those who were simply afraid, the rest, had deep religious motivations. This was instigated by a significant part of the Church, the "elders" and the "spiritual". It is no coincidence that these same circles, which remained in the end as its nucleus, are often opposed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and in favor of the Moscow Patriarchate. Finally, they are also spreading the totalitarian propaganda of the Russian state in our country, before and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Church and the loving relationship with the State

The Church itself, which is scandalously financed in many ways by all citizens, plays a heavy extra-institutional role in the government, sometimes excommunicating ministers or even the prime minister of the country, sometimes with anathemas and sometimes by pressuring and changing ministers that it does not like , such as the Minister of Education Nikos Filis in 2016. The name of the Greek Ministry of Education, which at the same time is "of religion", but also the preamble of the Constitution which mentions and takes effect in the name of a created god, which is the result of theological ferments and conflicts of the 2nd-4th century, symbolically show us the extent of her involvement in the state and society.

They also show us our distance from a rule of law, but also the schizophrenic marriage of concepts, which have opposite directions and unfortunately define us as a state and a society.

Besides these, the Church is an almost permanent maintenance agency. In the past, the Enlighteners encountered many obstacles and their works were anathema, such as Rigas Velestinlis, Christodoulos Pamplekis, Methodios Anthrakitis etc. Scholars who were an important cause of our pre-revolutionary spiritual preparation and consciousness as a nation. But still, in the now free state, people of art were hunted and not only, with excommunications or anathemas to them or their work, such as Theophilos Kairis, Emmanuel Roidis, Andreas Laskaratos, almost Nikos Kazantzakis, Panagiotis Sofianopoulos, Eleftherios Venizelos, the director Theodoros Angelopoulos, the director Nikos Kalogeropoulos and finally the current (2022) Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Minister Niki Kerameos , the Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias and finally Ilias Mosialos and Christos Chomenidis.

Even in our time, the reactions to art and history that have emerged are mainly supported by religious and parareligious Organisations and often in good agreement with fanatics extreme right.

Do you want to know more about the Church and its influence on the modern Greek state?

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