A wide-ranging interview by Greece’s education and religious affairs minister, to the Orthodoxia News Agency and journalist Maria Giachnaki, is posted today on our webpages.
Kostas Gavroglu answers questions regarding Church-state relations, proposed changes in the way religious classes are held in public schools, the closely scrutinized dialogue between his leftist government and the Church of Greece, as well as matters affecting Orthodoxy in the country and abroad – such as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the election of a new Archbishop of America and the semi-autonomous monastic community of Mt. Athos.
Among others, Gavroglu cited the experience he has gained in a dialogue with representatives of the Church, while he expressed bitterness, as he said, over the fallout and opposition to the government’s proposals, ones spearheaded by his ministry.
Gavroglu emphasized that the government does not want kick out some 4,000 clergymen, who are not currently assigned to specific parishes, from the current state payroll regime. Instead he claimed that his ministry wants to resolve their status.
The one-time university lecturer called last autumn’s draft agreement between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos, as “historic”. He also said dialogue with the Holy Synod’s representatives will continue, given that matters involving Church-state relations are sensitive and serious.
The minister’s entire interview, in Greek, is posted today on the Orthodoxia News Agency’s webpages.