Church hit by claims of sleaze

[emad]

Times
From John Carr in Athens



THE Greek Orthodox Church, facing a scandal over alleged bribing of judges, drug dealing and theft of antiquities, called an emergency meeting of its Holy Synod yesterday as Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church, promised to stamp out corruption.

One bishop, Metropolitan Panteleimon of Attica, is to appear before the synod today to explain claims, aired on Greek radio and television, that he had boasted of having control over judges who might be called upon to rule in a dispute over his appointment.

A second bishop, Metropolitan Theoklitos of Thessaly, has been asked to answer allegations that he was arrested in civilian clothes in a central Greek nightclub last year during a drugs bust.

At the same time, an arrest warrant has been issued for Archimandrite Iakovos Yiosakis, a former monk accused of stealing ancient relics from archaeological sites on the island of Kythera while serving in a monastery there.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1469503,00.html
SLEAZE:....doublespeak for organised crime corruption...

[emad]

1. BBC coverage (easier www. link)

Greek church rocked by scandals
By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Athens



The church wants to know of other suspicious acts by its clergy
The Greek Orthodox Church has suspended a senior bishop over a scandal that has engulfed the clergy and the judiciary.
He is one of several clergymen alleged to have tried to influence or bribe judges to fix the outcome of trials - some involving drug dealers.

Another priest was arrested on Friday accused of involvement in a series of allegedly fixed trials, as well as the illegal trade of antiquities.

Four judges have been charged with serious disciplinary offences.

More than a dozen other members of the judiciary are now under investigation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4237135.stm

[Freedom_from_Chains]

2. It will be fun to watch how fast the fundies distance themselves from this

[Psephos]

3. Greek Orthodox is Eastern Catholic - fundies are already distant from them

[Freedom_from_Chains]

6. I understand that

However it is still a Christian church, which has a history, whatever the particular denomination, of corruption, clearly demonstrating that if there is one common denominator among Christians it is that of hypocrisy. A problem that Jesus himself was aware and spoke often of.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Please let us know which human institutions are free from corruption.

Other religions? Governments?

[Freedom_from_Chains]

9. Oh Certainly

All institutions of one kind or another can be come corrupt at some point in time, government, religious, corporate, etc.. However the church, being what it is, is generally perceived by the public as beyond reproach seeing how it's main business is that of morality, that is simply not true, and it generally enjoys greater political and legal protection as no one wants to be see as persecuting religion.

When you compound that we the fact that there is a certain element within our society today that would like to conjoin the church with government as primary arbitrator of our moral values I enjoy finding opportunities to demonstrate the validity of that being a reasonable idea.

On a side note there is some reason to think that the Tibetan government existed as a theocracy for some 400 years, before the communist destroyed them, and did not suffer from the corresponding corruption that religious institutions of the west have consistently demonstrated over a vast period of time. However I will admit that I have not researched that item as well as I hope to do sometime in the future.

[katsy]

10. GO church is not fundie

I take no pleasure in scandals surrounding the Greek Orthodox Church. I grew up in that faith, though have long ago abandoned organized religion.

In the 60s the GO church was a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. They are philathrapic in practice. They are in no way, shape or form similar to the fundies.

I am an athiest and disagree with most all of the GO church's positions even as I respect their right to their opinions. Yes, like all religions (and for that matter, any human endeavor) hypocrisy exists and thrives. There is no way to eliminate the hypocrisy of clerics... but an effort to minimize the effect of that hypocrisy upon a society is essential.

Let the law deal with the criminals in the church as it would punish any criminal. In an unrelated topic, a Greek archbishop was accused of hiring a hit man to kill a rival (not sure of the details)... ROFLMAO! I'm just relieved these priests weren't fondling alter boys.

Don't insult the GO faith by calling them fundies. They are not... at least not yet.

For info about the GO church:

http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7101.asp

Excerpt:

" By and large, the Church is content to let the various political processes function in a way which separates the Church from partisan politics by maintaining a stance of general non-partisanship. Regardless of the political system of the nation and government, the Church is prepared to pray for the leader, in accordance with New Testament teaching. In democracies, this means that the Church seeks, insofar as its other purposes allow, to avoid partisan politics, neither formally opposing nor endorsing political candidates. Historically, only officials who imposed heretical teachings on the Church, or persecuted the Church, might be personally condemned; but even in these cases there was a certain hesitancy. By and large, hierarchs and other clergy do not seek to exercise political power, with the exception of the exercise of "ethnarchy," a unique institution discussed below.

The official Church strongly prefers that its laity be involved in government and politics, and embody Christian values to the extent possible given the governmental and political systems in force. This approach avoids the evils of a theocratic system, while encouraging a more general lay involvement in the embodiment of the ideal of the Kingdom of Heaven in Church-State relationships. "

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. Don't insult the GO faith by calling them fundies.

I wasn't aware that I had.

[katsy]

12. Reply to Freedom

When you stated that the fundies will distance themselves from this ... it implied, at least to me that the fundies and GO church were somehow connected. Else why would the fundies seek to distance themselves?

Granted organized religion is corrupt... but I feel the fundies are pure evil and spite. You can say I'm overly sensitive to any mention the the GO church and fundies are in any way associated.

[Calico Jack Rackham]

15. The Greek Orthodox Church is not

Catholic.

[sarcasmo]

4. Jesus told me to control the judges.

[ladjf]

5. The Church has been largely a criminal operation for at

least 900 years. How long will it take people to catch on to the scam?

[donsu]

8. agree

nt

[struggle4progress]

13. This sort of comment seems completely unnecessary. eom

[arikara]

14. I do agree that in many cases, a criminal element

has discovered that there are ripe pickings beneath the shelter of the church. And too often, those that are sincere in their beliefs are hornswoggled by said criminals because some believe that when a person merely says that they have turned their lives over to "the lord" that they are now suddenly trustworthy.

And then there are the televangelist ministries whose only reason for existence seems to be ripping people off and living the high life.