Archbishop Ieronymos

“I have not been pressured by powerful figures regarding the priest at the Church of the Saints Isidore. That is incorrect,” the archbishop said in an interview published today.

Government spokesman Yannis Economou said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss issues pertaining to the pandemic as well as other Church-State issues.

The Holy Synod, of the Orthodox Church of Greece in late July instructed priests nationwide to read at Sunday services an encyclical with questions and answers – drafted by experts – to allay the fears of the faithful and promote vaccination.

Perhaps the thorniest decision is whether and on what terms to to allow the country's thousands of Greek Orthodox churches to conduct Christmas services.

The late archbishop Seraphim famously quipped at the time that the Church of Greece is like a piece of coal. If you touch it when lit you are burned and if you touch it when cold you are soiled.

The issue of whether Holy Communion in churches might transmit COVID-19 as the same cup and spoon are used to offer everyone a small bit of wine and bread, Mitsotakis said that the Church is obliged to follow the same public health rules as others.

'The salaries and pensions and healthcare of the clergy will be guaranteed absolutely, transparently, and categorically,' Gavroglu declared after his meeting with Ieronymos today, in a clear effort to placate the angry lower clergy.

“In any event, the salary status of those who serve the Church constitutes the responsibility and decisions of the State,” the PM's office said.

'He has learned nothing from the crisis or from his lies, which he dubbed ‘self-deceptions’. He had the audacity to promise 10,000 new civil service positions to be paid for by citizens whom he has brought to their knees through taxes and insurance contributions.

The government insists on following political recipes that led the country to bankruptcy. It insists on approaching the major problem of unemployment with the outlook of an employer.