Senior clerics meet to discuss church-state deal

The Perpetual Holy Synod of the Church of Greece is meeting on Tuesday to address concerns regarding a controversial preliminary agreement reached last month between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Archbishop Ieronymos on the separation of church and state.

The meeting is scheduled to start at noon and apart from the regular agenda of talks, clerics will also be tasked with choosing the members of a special committee to take part in discussions on the agreement.

“I will speak last and when I do you will see that all this noise is nothing but a bubble,” Ieronymos said ahead of the meeting, downplaying opposition to the deal, which, among others, foresees clerics' salaries being removed from the state's payroll and subsidized instead.