By Romfea.news
The Holy Synod of the Hierarchy is the competent body to take the appropriate decisions, as it was mentioned in a communiqué issued by the Special committee for the study of issues of common interest of the Church and State.
Today a meeting was held with representatives of the State under the supervision of the Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs Kostas Gavroglou at the Synodal Palace.
As stated in the communiqué, at the meeting, they referred to the proposed Agreement between the State and the Church, which was submitted to our Committee during the previous meeting on February 12 at the Ministry of Education.
“In the Committee, we were, essentially, guided by the decision taken by the Hierarchy of 16th November 2018, which delineated our work, while we took into consideration both the Joint Communiqué of the Delegations, that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece, under the supervision of the Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece.” The Joint Communiqué showed that the two Churches coincided both on the proposals for revision of the Constitution and on the preservation of the current payment regime of the Orthodox clergy”. Regarding the relevant decision of the Association of Clergy of Greece, the Special Committee mentioned:
“We informed the State Commission that we would send a document to the Permanent Holy Synod, with which our Commission will outline its views on the proposals and will brief about its work to date, because the proposed agreement provides for a change in payment regime, which goes beyond the mandate given to our Commission by the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy. Therefore, the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy is the only competent body to take appropriate decisions.”