Draft bill tabled in Greece to fill vacant clerics’ positions

A draft bill was tabled in Parliament this week, with provisions envisioning the appointment of clerics from the Church of Greece and Church of Crete to numerous vacant positions, the first such legislation to be sent for ratification in 77 years.

The tabling of the draft law was met with satisfaction by the Church’s hierarchs as well as clergymen.

However, the draft bill does not contain a provision for the separation of the current Metropolis of Aetolia & Akarnania into two separate Metropolises, due to the geographic size of the specific prefecture of Aetoloakarnania, which lies in southwest Greece.

Still in the country, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos, referred to the need for unity within the Church and country, speaking on Tuesday during a blessing ceremony (Agiasmos) at the Archdiocese of Athens’ summer camp, in the Avlona township, due north of Athens.

The Agiasmos was officiated by the First Secretary of the Archdiocese, Archimandrite Barnabas Theoharis. Several ministers, office-holders and local municipal officials also attended the ceremony.

Source: orthodoxianewsagency.gr