Α brewing crisis between the embattled Greek government coalition and the powerful Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece was apparently defused on Wednesday evening after a meeting between PM Alexis Tsipras and the head of the Greek Church, Archbishop Ieronymos.
In exiting the prime minister’s office at the Maximos Mansion, the prelate of the Greek Church said all “misunderstandings had been cleared up”.
The recent fallout in relations was triggered by planned revision of the religious studies lesson in public schools, a plan eagerly pushed by Education Minister Nikos Filis, one of the more left-wing ministers in the Tsipras Cabinet.
Ieronymos merely added that dialogue between the two sides will continue, whereas lessons will continue with the current textbooks.
State-Church relations in Greece are set out in the constitution, whereas the Orthodox Church in the country holds a dominant position.
The significance of meeting was clearly demonstrated by those in attendance, as the leftist premier was joined by the head of his small coalition partner, Panos Kammenos, who leads the rightist populist Independent Greeks’ party and who holds the defense portfolio in Tsipras’ Cabinet. Additionally, Filis also attended the meeting, hours after a Church Synod spokesman said Ieronymos would not meet with him, along with government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili.
The head of the Orthodox Church in Greece was accompanied by no less than three Metropolitans (regional bishops) and the Church’s top legal counsel.
