Christodoulos of Athens

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Ieronymos II
Personal details
Born
Christos Paraskevaidis

(1939-01-17)17 January 1939
Died28 January 2008(2008-01-28) (aged 69)
Athens, Greece

Christodoulos (17 January 1939 – 28 January 2008) (

, from 1998 until his death, in 2008.

Early life and career

Christodoulos was born in Xanthi, Thrace, Northern Greece in 1939.[1] His civil name was Christos Paraskevaidis.[1] When he was two years old, his family moved to Athens to escape German and Bulgarian occupation of the area during World War II. His father subsequently returned to Xanthi following the war and ran a successful bid for mayor.

Christodoulos attended high school at the Roman Catholic Marist Leonteion Lyceum of Athens.

University of Athens, graduating in 1962, after having been ordained a deacon
in the Orthodox Church in 1961.

He also attended a graduate school at the University of Athens for a degree in theology. Christodoulos was ordained a

priest in 1965 and graduated from the School of Theology in 1967. He worked as a parish priest in Palaio Faliro, a suburb of Athens, between 1965 and 1974. During that time he also became Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. In 1974, he was elected bishop of Demetrias in Volos, Thessaly, a post which he held until his election as Archbishop of Athens in 1998.[3]

Christodoulos was a Doctor of Theology, had a degree in French and English, and also spoke Italian and German. He was the author of a number of theological books and received Honorary Doctorates from the

University of Iasi
. Due to Christodoulos' attending a Catholic high school, he felt open to dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic churches having experienced both sides.

Tenure as Archbishop

Christodoulos succeeded Archbishop

. The latter would eventually succeed him in 2008.

Supporting the existing Church social services, he launched new services to face social issues such as the welfare of drug addicts and immigrants, the support for single mothers and abused women, the care for the victims of trafficking, the establishing of a chain of nurseries and infant schools, the provided assistance to poor families and families with many children. He also established "Solidarity", an

NGO of the Church of Greece, which allowed a humanitarian intervention of the Church on an international level in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. "Solidarity" caused several controversies, such as the case where it received 5.6 million Euros from the Greek State in order to send humanitarian relief to Iraq. Instead, "Solidarity" only spent 740 thousand Euros to buy food, which it kept in storage houses without ever sending it to Iraq,[4] and kept the rest in a bank account. After the death of Archbishop Christodoulos, the Greek Church started an investigation of the financial activities of "Solidarity" and found gross irregularities.[5]

In 2003, he fell out with

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew over who should have the final say in the appointment of bishops in northern Greece.[6] As a result, Christodoulos' name was stricken off the Diptych
of the Church as a punishment. He was reinstated three months later, as the conflict seemed to be coming to a resolution. The rift was mended a month later.

The visit of Pope John Paul II in Athens and Archbishop Christodoulos' visit to Pope Benedict XVI in Rome were significant steps towards the cause of Church unity.[7]

On May 20, 2001, Konstantinos Poulios (Κωνσταντίνος Πούλιος in Greek), an

Old Calendarist, attacked Christodoulos and slapped him in the face, while the Archbishop was giving an interview to a TV crew outside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.[8]
The attack was broadcast on live television; Poulios was arrested by Christodoulos' police bodyguards, but in the end he faced no charges.

Views

Christodoulos in 2007

Support for Serbia

The Archbishop played a leading role in supporting Serbia (a mainly Orthodox country), and stoking public opposition to NATO and the Kosovo War of 1999 in which Greece, as a NATO member, played a significant, though largely non-interventionist, role. He also spoke out strongly against the intention of the Greek government under Costas Simitis to follow EU directives, especially where they clashed with what he regarded as traditional Greek policies.[9] Shortly after his swearing in, Christodoulos stated that it was "a disgrace for the modern Greeks to decide on the basis of what directives from Brussels might ask, at one time or another.[10]

Identity cards controversy

In 2000, a major clash between church and state erupted when the then Greek socialist government sought to follow a decision of the Greek Data Protection Authority, by removing the "Religion" field from the national ID cards carried by Greek citizens. Christodoulos opposed the decision, complaining that socialist prime minister Costas Simitis did not consult with the Greek Church on the matter and saying that it was part of a wider plan to marginalise the Church from Greek public life; he also stated that the decision was "put forward by neo-intellectuals who want to attack us like rabid dogs and tear at our flesh".[11] The archbishop organised two demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki, alongside a majority of bishops of the Church of Greece, supporting the inclusion of religious data on a voluntary basis, and asked for a referendum on the matter. For this purpose, he was greatly supported as more than three million Greek citizens signed and asked for a referendum.

In 2001, Christodoulos prompted international criticism after saying that the ID decision had been instigated by Jews.[12] The Central Board of the Jewish Community in Greece subsequently sent him a letter on 20 March 2001, asking him to clarify the matter and expressing their opposition to the mandatory writing of religious status in identity cards.[13] The Archbishop replied in a letter that his source was the official web site of the USA Jewish Community where it was stated that the US Jewish Community had asked the Greek Government to remove religious status from Greek identity cards. He also said that in Israel, the writing of religious status in identity cards is mandatory.[14] The official position of the Greek Church became that the writing of religious status on identity cards should be optional. However, the Greek Government proceeded to remove the writing of religious status completely from new identity cards.[citation needed]

Military junta

It emerged the same year that despite Christodoulos' saying that he had no knowledge of nor involvement with

Archbishop Hieronymus
, a regime appointee and supporter.

Ecumenical relations

Christodoulos consented in 2001 to the Greek government's decision to allow

schismatic heretic.[18] He also consented in 2002 to the construction of a mosque in Athens, to end the fact that Athens is the only EU capital without a Muslim place of worship. On the other hand, he asked that the mosque will be outside the city center, a wish that was granted by the government who chose a site 20 km outside Athens against the wishes of the Muslim community.[19]

Archbishop Christodoulos visited Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in 2006. They issued a common proclamation together that included the statement that: "We look forward to a fruitful collaboration to enable our contemporaries to rediscover the Christian roots of the European Continent which forged the different nations and contributed to developing increasingly harmonious links between them. This will help them live and promote the fundamental human and spiritual values for all people, as well as the development of their own societies" [20]

Role of the clergy in Greek schools

In 2006, Greek newspapers reported the Archbishop's displeasure at a decision by the centre-right government of

Ministry for National Education and Religious Affairs under Marietta Giannakou
. The decision, however, was applauded by representatives of the Greek Teachers' Association, who supported it as a measure that safeguarded freedom of belief and fostered respect for cultural and religious differences in schools.

Greek politics

Christodoulos supported views on Greek politics and culture that were criticized by

Big Brother, urging followers to "pray for the young kids" on the shows and to "turn off our television sets".[22]

Greek history

The Archbishop attacked the authors of the Greek elementary schools' official state sixth-grade history book, accusing them of attempting to "enslave Greek youth" and conceal the Church's role in defending Greek national identity during Ottoman occupation. In reference to the same issue, he has castigated the "yannisaries"[23] (i.e. traitors to the Greek nation) "who dare raise an audacious head and question unimpeachable things". The state issued textbook was later removed in 2007 by the Greek Government, after the Athens Academy, a Legal Entity of Public Law supervised by the Ministry of National Education and Religion, as well as a number of Greek historians and intellectuals also criticised the book for historical inaccuracies.[24]

Globalization

The Archbishop was intensely critical of globalisation, to which he referred, on repeated occasions, in disparaging terms as a global, or alternatively, "foreigner" plot to deprive people of their national identities. In 2004 he criticized globalisation as a "bulldozer that is out to demolish everything, on account of those who want to rule the world without resistance or obstacles",

crime against humanity" and "a vehicle to Americanise the life of all humankind".[26] He has also said that "globalisation wants to turn us into gruel, soup, sheep, or better yet, turkeys, so that we may be led with a cane".[27]

In 2002, he asked students in a Greek school whether they wanted to be "mince meat or meat", explaining that "foreigners want to turn us into the meat-grinder, while meat is a solid thing".

monotonic orthography, as a "globalization plot" to impose "cultural uniformity" and "support the sale of multi-national Olivetti's typewriters". He also sarcastically referred to the lawmakers' "kindness of relieving our race from the darkness of Aristophanes",[29]
with regards to the same matter.

Human rights

Some comments by the archbishop on human rights also raised controversy. During a 2006 speech,[30] Christodoulos stated that the Church is bound to "come into many conflicts with the movement for human rights", despite the fact "it not only does not oppose human rights, but supersedes them". His proposed reason for these conflicts is that "the Church cannot accept what the Lord of This World is promoting through the human rights movement : the abolishment of sin". The Archbishop has attributed human rights to a ploy by Satan on a second occasion, stating that "the forces of Darkness cannot stand it [that Greece is a predominantly Orthodox country], and for this reason they want to decapitate it and flatten everything, by means of globalization, the novel deity that has appeared alongside another deity called human rights, and on account of which they expect us to curtail our own rights".[28]

The Archbishop was also criticised for frequently judging the internal and foreign policies of the elected Greek governments, usually during sermons in the liturgy. In 1999, he complained during a sermon that the Education Ministries were "experimenting on students" with their continuous innovations on the educational system, causing the dissatisfaction of then Minister Gerasimos Arsenis, who was pushing substantial changes in secondary education at the time.

Enlightenment philosophy

Christodoulos frequently criticized the principles and values of what he characterized "the atheist Enlightenment", and which he contrasted to Christian values.[31]

Turkey and the European Union

Christodoulos created a major controversy in 2003 when he denounced proposals to let Turkey enter the European Union, calling the Turks "barbarians".[32] Despite the fact a number of Greeks are also opposed to Turkey's entrance (as, indeed, are many other Europeans), Christodoulos' statements were seen as an unwarranted intervention in foreign affairs, based on a discriminatory and racialist logic. Statements to the same effect had been made—and retracted—in the past by former Foreign Affairs Minister Theodoros Pangalos.

The Archbishop was accused of fusing ethnic stereotypes and homophobic ideas when, on another occasion, he proclaimed that "Because we are not German, neither French, far more not English, but manful Greeks, we are Orthodox Christians".[33]

Relations between Greece and Europe

In 1998 he declared that "when our ancestors gave the lights of civilization, they [Europeans] were living up in trees".[27] In 2003 he said that "history teaches us Europeans were always out to harm us. Long before the sack of Constantinople, Hellenism had been subjected to the horrible experience of the Franks, who wanted to achieve, by any means possible, its extinction." The latter sentence seems to indicate that the Archbishop extrapolates attitudes of the excommunicated Western sackers of 1204 AD, to all Western Europeans, of all times.

September 11 attacks

After the

Great Powers". Critics attacked the Archbishop[34] for what they considered to constitute an underhanded justification of the terrorist act. Christodoulos denied the allegation and responded that he condemned the attacks. In the fifth anniversary of the attacks, in 2006, and while speaking to an audience of High School students, Christodoulos characterized the September 11, 2001 attacks "a hideous crime that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people" and attributed them to "man failing to discern between good and evil, and being unable to posit himself responsibly towards the problems of the world".[citation needed
]

Science

In 2004, Christodoulos published a brief article in, Efimerios, the journal of the Holy Synod of the Greek Church. This does not count as an official church document but does give a rare testimony about the official position of the Holy Synod.

"All of us have once heard that "god has created the world ex-nihilo." This is for some people a problem. Not all are ready to accept this answer to the question, "how has the world been created?" The problem of who has created and how he has created the world is a central problem of our life. We all know the great progress that science has done in this domain. Many sciences complete each other in a common effort to discover the principles of life. We are grateful to science for its efforts to reach the limits of knowledge and throw light in all the secrets of creation. We, believers, should not fear the progress of science; on the contrary, we should expect conclusions and proposals from it which strengthen our faith. Nevertheless, we do not ignore that in the past, and precisely in the preceding century, the distrust of scripture came from certain laboratories and lasted a long time. It was the period of the myth that science is omnipotent and can give answers to the main human queries... Then, when one believes in the omnipotence of man on earth, comes accidents such as Challenger or Soviet Chernobyl to demonstrate the weakness of man... Science is a holy gift, but within limits. It stands in between physics and metaphysics. With the means of observation, experiment and mathematics, it tries to explore events that cannot be perceived. But its horizon is always limited. Nevertheless the query for atheist arguments in scientific results has not ceased even today to be a phenomenon, not of course in science laboratories, but in the imagination of some people who pretend that science has the status and authority to decide on whether God exists or not."[35][36]

Chrysopigi

In 1958 along with Kallinkos Karusos and Athanasios, Christodoulos established the religious fraternity Panagia Chrysopigi. In 1973 via a royal edict, Christodoulos managed to lodge the fraternity of Chrysipigi on prime land just outside Athens. The edict also gave authority of the monastery, not to the local bishop, but to the Holy Synod itself.[37]

Illness

In June 2007, Archbishop Christodoulos was hospitalised in Aretaeion Hospital in

transplantation specialist Andreas Tzakis of the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine announced that the archbishop would be transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami in order to undergo a liver transplant. On October 8, 2007, however, the transplant was cancelled[39] because of metastases[40]
and, following suggestions from his attending physicians, Christodoulos returned to Athens on October 26 for continued medical treatment.

Death and burial

People paying their last respects to Archbishop Christodoulos
Christodoulos's tombstone at the First Cemetery of Athens.

In his final days, the Archbishop refused to be hospitalised, preferring to remain at his home in Psychiko,[41] where he died on 28 January 2008, one week and four days after his 69th birthday.[42] After his death the Greek government announced a four-day national wake during which his body lay in state at the chapel of the Cathedral of the Annunciation.[43][44]

His funeral was held on 31 January 2008.

successor was carried out by the Synod of the Metropolitans of the Church of Greece on 7 February 2008.[43]

Despite the criticism,[41] Archbishop Christodoulos proved to be one of the most popular archbishops in Greek history,[41] having a particular rapport with young people.[41][44]

Quotes

  • The Archbishop has been taped saying, referring to the
    Justinian era of Christianity: Early Greek Christians blessed and honored the Ancient Greek temples, in which pagans and heathens dwelled, by recycling the materials (stones and dirt) from the Ancient Greek Temples to build Christian temples.[45][46]

See also

  • List of Archbishops of Athens

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d "Greek Archbishop Christodoulos dies". Reuters. 2008-01-28. Archived from the original on 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  2. ^ S. B. Christodoulos, a marist alumnus Archived 2007-05-13 at archive.today
  3. ^ Biography of Archbishop Christodoulos, website of the Church of Greece. Archived June 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Solidarity" with rotten poultry, Ελευθεροτυπία, 2007-06-07 Archived October 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ The sinful proceedings of “Solidarity” Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Το Βήμα, 2008-08-03
  6. ^ Galpin, Richard (2003-12-05). "Greek archbishop brands Turks barbarians". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2006-06-18. Retrieved 2006-05-01.
  7. ^ Biography of Archbishop Christodoulos, website of the Church of Greece Archived June 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Eleftherotypia, 21/5/2001
  9. ^ "New Greek Orthodox archbishop enthroned", BBC News, 1998-05-09 Archived February 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Athens News Agency: Press Review in Greek, 98-05-05". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
  11. ^ Greek church at war over plans to change ID cards, The Guardian, 22 May 2000 Smith, Helena (22 May 2000). "Greek church at war over plans to change ID cards | the Guardian | Guardian Unlimited". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2006.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ "Religious row blazes over Greek identity", BBC News, 2001-03-15 Archived December 13, 2003, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ : Κεντρική σελίδα του Αρχιεπισκόπου Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ : Κεντρική σελίδα του Αρχιεπισκόπου Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  15. Regime of the Colonels
    .
  16. ^ "Χριστοδουλοσ Και Χουντα". Archived from the original on December 15, 2005. Retrieved January 29, 2006.
  17. ^ "Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-05-04b". The Macedonian Press Agency (Hellenic Resources Network). 4 May 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  18. ^ "Pope breaks new ground", BBC News, 2001-05-03 Archived December 22, 2002, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ "Olympic city to build first mosque", BBC News, 2002-10-29 Archived January 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "Common Declaration signed by Pope Benedict XVI and by H.B. Christodoulos". Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  21. ^ Carassava, Anthee (2008-02-08). "Christodoulos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, dies". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "Ban on Greek Big Brother overturned", BBC News, 2002-03-22. Archived February 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "news in.gr - Προσπάθεια "υποδούλωσης" των μαθητών βλέπει ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος στο νέο βιβλίο Ιστορίας". Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
  24. ^ "Page turning on history book". Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  25. ^ "news in.gr - Οι οικονομικές ανισότητες στο στόχαστρο του Αρχιεπισκόπου Χριστόδουλου". Archived from the original on March 22, 2005. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
  26. ^ "news in.gr - Ανησυχία για τα εθνικά θέματα εκφράζει ο αρχιεπίσκοπος Χριστόδουλος". Archived from the original on May 30, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
  27. ^ a b c "Åëåõèåñïôõðßá - ×ñéóôüäïõëïò: Ïêôþ ÷ñüíéá êÞñõãìá". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2006.
  28. ^ a b "Τα ΝΕΑ onLine - ΟΡΙΖΟΝΤΕΣ". ta-nea.dolnet.gr. Archived from the original on May 25, 2005.
  29. ^ "news in.gr - "Φιλιππικός" Χριστόδουλου κατά του μονοτονικού συστήματος". Archived from the original on March 24, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
  30. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20080202011216/http://www.ecclesia.gr/greek/archbishop/default.asp?id=454&what_main=1&what_sub=7&lang=gr&archbishop_heading=%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%96%CE%97%CE%A4%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%97. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved 2006-11-13. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. ^ "news in.gr - Επιμένει στην αναφορά περί χριστιανικής Ευρώπης στο Σύνταγμα της ΕΕ ο Χριστόδουλος". Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2006.
  32. ^ "Greek archbishop brands Turks 'barbarians'", BBC News, 2003-12-05 Archived June 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ "E Online - ÅËËÁÄÁ". Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
  34. A research on the reactions of Greek media and the public after the 9/11 attacks.
  35. ^ Efimerios, Oct. 2004, 10-12
  36. ^ Blancke, S., Hjernitslev, H. and Kjaergaard, P. (2014). Creationism in Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 152, 153.
  37. ^ Oulis, D., Makris, G., Roussos, S. (2010). The Orthodox Church of Greece: policies and challenges under Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (1998–2008). International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 10(2–3), pp. 192–210
  38. ^ "Archbishop diagnosed with cancer | Athens News". Archived from the original on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
  39. ^ "Greece's top cleric treated in US". BBC News. 2007-10-08. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.
  40. ^ "Transplant surgery on Christodoulos fails". Athens News Agency. 2008-01-29. Archived from the original on 2008-02-01.
  41. ^ a b c d Carassava, Anthee (2008-01-29). "Greek Orthodox Leader Dies at 69". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  42. ^ "Archbishop of Greek Orthodox Church dies". CNN/Anthee Carassava. 2008-01-28. Archived from the original on January 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  43. ^ a b c Becatoros, Elena (2008-01-28). "Head of Greece's Orthodox Church Dies". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  44. ^ a b George Hatzidakis and Karolos Grohmann (2008-01-28). "Head of Greek Orthodox Church dies". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  45. ^ (in Greek) The Church of Greece and the ancient Greek pantheon, article from Ios Press. Archived December 14, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  46. ^ (in Greek) TV video capture in which the Archbishop analyses his beliefs about the Ancient Greeks and the ancient Greek religion. Archived June 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by
Archbishop of Athens and All Greece

1998–2008
Succeeded by
Ieronymos II