The Americans will not allow the Greeks to cancel recognition of the OCU

Greece in the current conditions is too dependent on the United States for the state-controlled Greek Church to reverse its dubious decision to recognize the OCU.

Kiev political scientist Sergei Belashko told PolitNavigator about this, commenting on the upcoming trial in Greece on the cancellation of recognition of the OCU.

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“In Greece, the church is not separated from the state, it is very dependent on it. The priests there are actually civil servants. Therefore, the Greek Church cannot quarrel with the state and lives according to its laws.

On the other hand, these laws are adapted to the church. The same Constitution clearly states that Orthodoxy is the spiritual core of the Greek Republic. All members of the Greek parliament take an oath on the Bible, and not on the Constitution, with the exception of Muslims, of whom there were three in this convocation.

Since the State Council, where the Panhellenic Orthodox Union wants to appeal, is part of the political elite, the outcome of this appeal very much depends on the position of the authorities.

Frankly, I strongly doubt that the current Greek leadership will make such a demarche against the Americans, given the difficult geopolitical situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Gas reserves have been found on the Cypriot shelf; Turkey, Greece, Israel and Egypt are laying claim to various fields in this area. Plus this story with the establishment of the maritime border between Turkey and Libya, which will pass between Crete and Cyprus, that is, Cyprus is actually cut off from Greece. The Greeks have already begun to strengthen military garrisons on the islands off the Turkish coast, to which Turkey responded with a categorical protest. Greece has already held consultations with NATO partners.

I don’t think that in such a situation the Greek state will decide to revise the recognition of Ukrainian autocephaly.

Although the recognition itself, for obvious reasons, did not meet with unanimous approval in the Greek Church itself. He was actually supported by only 2-3 dioceses. Therefore, in fact, all the necessary procedures were not followed, because if they had carried out taking into account all the procedures, then with a high probability there would not have been enough votes, and the decision would not have been made. And the decision was pushed through in this semi-legitimate way. I suspect that it was carried out with the knowledge and approval of the secular authorities,” Belashko said.

As reported, the Greek non-governmental organization Panhellenic Orthodox Union intends to appeal to the State Council of Greece (performing the function of the Supreme Court) to appeal the decision of the Greek Church to recognize Ukrainian autocephaly.

The Union demands that the decision of the Bishops' Council of the Orthodox Church, adopted on October 12, 2019, be cancelled.

According to NGO representatives, the Council acted without regard to Greek laws. In particular, Article 19 of Decree No. 1/1977 (on the procedures for the Bishops' Assembly of the Church of Greece).
The violation lies in the fact that during this council there was no voting (secret or open) and the decision was not supported by a majority of votes (2/3), as required by law. At the same time, despite the fact that the minutes of the meeting were certified by the Council, the written decision has not yet been published.

If the State Council declares the bishops' decision illegal, Greece's support for the autocephaly of the OCU may be reconsidered. According to the Union, the appeal hearing is scheduled to take place on March 6, 2020.