Two 14-year-old girls dressed in “Papad” clothes, with a candle in their hand for their needs divine functiongave birth to a “holy war” in it Church. The event took place on Church of Agios Nikolaos Ragavas in Plakaon the day of Pentecost and became known thanks to a photo posted on social networks by parishioners of the parish itself.

Some, mostly on Church websites, were quick to denounce the said move as “modern”, a sign of disrespect for christian orthodox tradition and a harbinger of an “unfavorable” development of events – linking the event even with “underground processes” for the perspective of the female priesthood. Priest, Father Alexandros Kariotoglu, was set for a feast from every pilgrimage. “Until later,” her circles comment. Archdiocese“the question is theological and does not lend itself to public discussion”, not wanting to refer to anything more.

The Byzantine Church of Plaka is attracting many new people in part because of the personality of its priest, Father Alexandros Kariotoglu, a foreign-educated doctor of theology and secondary education who tries to combine Orthodox theology with a modern, experiential and empirical outlook on life. It is significant that in this church the Apostle is also read in Modern Greek, after Ancient Greek, so that the meanings are as clear as possible to the entire flock.

“Those who make this senseless attack treat the woman as a hated symbol,” emphasizes “K” Dr. Zisis, a philologist and member of the church council of the temple.

“The facts are clear and concrete” says Dr. Thanos Zisis “K”., philologist and member of the church council of Agios Nikolaos Ragavas, “due to the fact that for three days the meeting was limited, and the boys who helped in the sanctuary were absent.” Therefore, Father Alexander allowed two young 14-year-old girls to wear “papadikas” outside the altar and each hold a candle while reading the Gospel. Two girls, twin sisters, regularly attend church in the specified parish. “In the case of boys, neither the desire nor the permission of a competent bishop is required,” explains Dr. Zisis.

The phenomenon of girls taking on these responsibilities is common in Greek Orthodox churches abroad (for example, when the Patriarch of Alexandria works), but also in the region. “In Crete, with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronos and the priestly head of the Metropolitan Church of Chania, on the eve of Christmas, services were held with assistant boys and girls, students of the Experimental Gymnasium of Chania.” On Pentecost, there were other girls with “papadikas” who participated in divine services in the Holy Constantine and Helena churches in San Diego and in the churches of St. Gregory of Nyssa during the reading of the Gospel, in the Small and Great Entrance. “In the Orthodox tradition, there is the institution of deaconesses, which has been weakened, but not abolished,” says Dr. Zisis. “The last deaconess was ordained by Blessed Christodoulos in Volos, she was preceded by Deaconess Maria in 1978 in Korea and an earlier one, ordained in 1910 by Saint Nektarios. Therefore, no charge can be brought against Father Karyotoglu, who is being sentenced similar to the one that was passed a few days ago to the archimandrite, accused of molesting a minor.”

According to Dr. Zisi, the problem is serious and has social consequences. “Those who carry out this senseless attack treat the woman as a hateful symbol; a woman, in order to exist in the church, must ontologically experience her existence, her body and her sexuality as something singular, sinful and impure, in order to remain inferior to a man and be useful only to bring coffee and cookies … “. The two girls became “With such messages, the guilty identity of the female gender is insidiously cultivated from childhood – adolescence,” the teacher notes. “Unfortunately, the pastoral care of the Church of Greece has been left behind, and therefore it is candles embarrassed, “but the image of churches empty of youth is not a problem?”