Doctrine of “joint force” adopted Church of Greece And Church of Cretewho decided to act in concert and join forces in the matter of church property.

Yesterday it took place in the meeting room of the Holy Synod, in his presence Archbishop Jerome, a conference on church property and forest maps. Church sources report that the Church has long raised before the state the problems that arose because of forest maps in a number of regions of the country, and recorded its claims. Recall that in October last year, the Church of Greece announced its intention to sue the state for compensation for real estate in the Vouliagmeni area, while it was announced that it intends to act in a similar way for a number of claims. The districts of Fascomilia, Legren, Vari, Strofilia, Kokkinaras, Flamuri of Magnesia were mentioned indicatively. In his speech yesterday, Mr. Jerome touched on those cases that, from the point of view of the church, are amenable to legislative solution, in order to clarify what properties can be used. “We fully understand that resolving long-standing issues requires painstaking and continuous dialogue and is subject to its own political time for each government,” said Mr. Jerome, adding that there are well-established proposals from the Church that could form a good starting point for consensus on a realistic basis.

The Church of Crete recently announced that it intends to sue property it owns because it believes a significant portion of its property is at risk following the release of maps of the forest. As they say, the pastures belonging to the monasteries were classified as forests. Prodromos, Metropolitan of Rethymnon and Avlopotamus, stressed at yesterday’s event that “as the Church of Crete, we expect the honest Greek state to take responsibility in order to protect in time what the Church has preserved in her property, centuries, with sacrifices and her blood martyrs.”

“Message”

The decision to hold a conference and form a united front by the Greek and Cretan churches is associated with the fact that we are actually in the pre-election period. According to a church official, no initiatives, legislative or otherwise, are expected from the government during this period. The mobility that is being developed on the part of the Church is more related to the readiness to remind about unresolved issues, to send a message that there is a clear position on specific claims.