Bishop slams plans of church-state split

Outspoken Bishop Anthimos of Thessaloniki spoke out on Tuesday against plans by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to include the separation of the Church and the state in the government’s plans for constitutional review.

“This issue has been raised before,” he told Thema 104.6 FM. “On all occasions I was clearly opposed to it,” he said, adding, “I don’t understand the reason.”

“The wealth of the Church is in all our hands and it was given to us by our fathers,” he said. “Much has been said about separation and, because I’ve been around for a long time, I say the issue will never be resolved.”