Seraphim of Athens

Amid the backlash from some clerics over Parliament's recent ratification of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, Archbishop Ieronymos ordered an ecclesiastical inquiry on Tuesday concerning the archimandrite of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, Father Seraphim Dimitriou, over his recent behavior toward a socialist MP.

The Greek Orthodox Church would agree to baptize children of same-sex couples, if they so desire, Archbishop Ieronymos, the leader of the influential Orthodox Church of Greece, said on Thursday.

The Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria, Seraphim, died from complications caused by Covid-19 at the age of 61 on Tuesday, becoming the second senior Greek cleric to succumb to the virus.

Seraphim tested positive in early December but as his health deteriorated, he was admitted to the 424 General Military Hospital of Thessaloniki, where he was intubated on December 20.

By George Gilson

Back in the early 1980's when Archbishop Seraphim was at the height of his power and clashing openly (and successfully) with Andreas Papandreou over his bid for state expropriation of monastic lands and properties (attempted by his ill-fated minister Antonis Tritsis) ) Church-State relations were sorely tested.

The Haskovo District Court has finally decided to turn over a Bulgarian suspected of complicity in a murder in Greece to the authorities in Bulgaria's southern neighbour. Milen Raychev has a European arrest warrant issued by the Athens prosecutor's office.

Russian Patriarch Kiril is due to travel to Bulgaria's capital Sofia in February of next year, Russian church officials have said.

The Bulgarian National Radio quotes him as saying that an invitation has already been extended to Kiril by his Bulgarian counterpart, Neofit.