There was a heated debate between the Education Minister Kostas Gavroglu and New Democracy MP Dimitris Kyriazidis during the discussion of a question submitted by the latter, accusing the government’s ‘foot-dragging’ in connection with the recruitment of clerics and the filling vacant posts in metropolises.
According to Kostas Gavroglu, who referred to some provisions in the law of 1945, “the permanent posts of priests are only 6,000,” since only the married priests should be paid, which is not the case today (10,400 unmarried clergy and hieromonks receive payment from the Public Sector).
“The state invites applications for the vacant posts for the Holy Archdiocese, while the distribution to each metropolis is up to the Church,” Kostas Gavroglu pointed out and called on the parties to take a position on the institutional disorder, as he described the current situation, as kathimerini.gr says.
Kyriazidis’s reference to a ‘in secret’ agreement between the government and Archbishop Ieronymos on the recruitment of the clerics led to the intense reaction of the Minister of Education.
“It is unacceptable to say that the agreement between the prime minister and the Archbishop was made in secret. The framework of agreement between the prime minister and the Archbishop aimed at resolving this problem, that is the way in which posts are distributed to each metropolis. The main objective is not to have too many priests in urban centers, and few in the provinces,” the Education Minister said.