Archbishopric of Athens

Archbishop Ieronymos said on Monday that he received and accepted an invitation to visit Russia extended by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk during a meeting at the Archdiocese of Athens.

Following revelations brought to light by Proto Thema based on official Education Ministry employee complaints that the director of the National Organisation for Certification of Skills & Career Guidance (EOPPEP), Eleni Giannakopoulou had allegedly thrown an icon of the Virgin Mary into the rubbish bin and attempted to strip an employee of a cross from her neck on the eve of the celebration

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos gave an interview to Skai TV, where he dubbed Education Minister Nikos Filis “a problematic person”.

Amid the ongoing dispute between the government and senior Orthodox clergy over the issue of the separation of Church and state, Archbishop Ieronymos touched on the matter during a sermon at Aghios Dimitrios Church in Athens on Wednesday.

The Greek Orthodox Diocese of Glyfada issued a statement saying it would pray for the scheduled visit of Pope Francis to Greece on April 16 to be postponed, as it considered the visit of ‘such grave significance’ that it should be decided upon by the whole body of the Greek Orthodox Church and not solely to the Archbishop of Athens and Greece, Hieronymus.

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos said on Sunday that it was every person’s right to choose to have his or her body cremated, but this decision would be contrary to the beliefs of the Orthodox Church and therefore crematoriums could not operate within Greek Church cemeteries.