The clergy stand firm: Clerical salary should remain in the public payroll

The clergy remain defiant on their payroll, insisting that the government’s plan cannot pass.

As it emerged from today’s general assembly of the Association of Greek Clergy (ISKE), their decision, in view of the convening of the Hierarchy in late March, is the clerical salary to remain in the public sector.

At the end of the meeting, which began this morning, the clergy spokesman, Protopresbyter Georgios Konstantinou, stressed that “we decided unanimously not to accept any change in payroll issues. A decision that we had taken from the very first moment and was also unanimously accepted by the Holy Synod on November 16, 2018, which is binding for the whole Church.”

Protopresbyter Georgios Konstantinou added that “regarding the issue of payroll, we stick to our positions and our decisions. We will not back down in any way.”

When Fr. G. Constantinou was asked by “ethnos.gr” how they will react in case the government unilaterally proceeds to the draft of the Minister of Education, Kostas Gavroglou, he noted that: “There are also nonviolent actions, and elections are coming…

The priests do not accept the Proposed Framework of the government, as they consider it to be the same thing in other words. It is known that words cannot eliminate the essence.

Our legal advisor, Alexis Mitropoulos, has deconstructed it completely. All our proposals will be recorded and when we are ready, we will publish them.”