Church mulling greater contribution
Prime Minister George Papandreou is due to visit Mount Athos on Saturday, where he will met with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, but financial rather than spiritual matters could top the agenda after the Church of Greece suggested that it might want to make a bigger contribution to public coffers.
Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, will be visiting the semi-autonomous monastic enclave to celebrate the 20th anniversary of him assuming his role.
However, Papandreou is unlikely to be in a celebratory mood as he is expected to want to discuss the issue of the Church of Greece?s contribution to the country?s effort to improve its public finances. The head of the Church, Archbishop Ieronymos has so far resisted calls for his institution to pay more in taxes, especially on its vast property holdings, and for its clerics, who are paid from the state coffers, to endure the same pay cuts as civil servants.
On Friday, the Holy Synod issued a statement arguing that there had been many ?myths? about the Church?s contribution, calling on the government to spread the burden of the crisis evenly. ?Enough burdens on our brothers on low wages and pensions. Enough of the taxes and cuts to low wages. Enough of the armies of the unemployed. Go after the tax dodgers and make checks on capital.?
The Synod went on to suggest that it would make use of its real estate to help the government. ?The Church will give whatever it has left but it will do so when it sees fit and in a manner that it is accustomed to,? the statement said without going into further detail.
