The Orthodox Church of Greece

With regard to the Cold War period, the history of the Orthodox Church of Greece (OCG), its institutional body as well as its numerous unofficial forms expressed through various organizations, groups and movements, exhibits some particular features. Firstly, soon after the end of the Second World War, Greece became the

site of a serious conflict for political control between the Greek Government of National Unity, supported by the British, and the communist partisans of the ‘National People’s Liberation Army’ (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos) (ELAS), who were active in the Resistance against the Axis occupation forces. The Treaty of Varkiza (1945) between the two sides remained ineffective and subsequently the country was ravaged by a dramatic Civil War (1946-49), ending with the defeat of the communist side and numerous communists seeking refuge in Eastern Bloc countries. The Civil War traumas were catastrophic for Greece, which had already been seriously wounded during the Second World War. This holds true for the OCG as well, which had to pay a high price (destruction of church buildings, murder of clerics, etc.). Fearing antireligious communist policies and being aware of the religious persecution in the Soviet Union, the OCG allied from the start with the anticommunist side. This explains, in turn, the anti-church orientations and actions of the Greek communists. Anti-communism was the salient and dominant feature of the OCG in the decades to come, although, while not sharing its militant antireligious spirit, isolated Orthodox clerics of all ranks remained close to the communist side during the Resistance and later periods. Secondly, during the Cold War most countries with a predominant Ortho-

dox Church or with a minority Orthodox Church in Eastern, East Central and South Eastern Europe were behind the Iron Curtain. In this respect, the OCG remained the sole predominant one in a country attached politically, economically, militarily and intellectually to the West, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Orthodox Church of Cyprus being special cases. Yet Greece’s multifaceted attachment to the West, followed by an inevitable emulation of Western patterns of development, should not be

In spite of this was never fully pro-Western. On the contrary, anti-Western elements played a dominant role. Anti-Westernism has been, after all, a conspicuous feature of Greek Orthodox culture for many centuries. It is for this reason that the OCG basically kept its historical religious and cultural ties to the sister Orthodox Churches behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. It showed compassion and understanding for their ordeals after the Revolution of October 1917.1 Needless to say, such strong ties did not exist to Western Churches, a fact underlining the historical significance of the ‘Orthodox Commonwealth’ and its modern transformations, especially with regard to pan-Orthodox communication, understanding and collaboration.2 Thus, despite the political and military divisions established in Cold War Europe, aspects of such pan-Orthodox orientation and togetherness kept coming to the surface. Thirdly, regardless of these pan-Orthodox ties, various sources of tension

between the OCG and the Orthodox Churches in the Eastern Bloc countries existed throughout this period. This issue has a long history going back to the persisting tensions between Constantinople and Moscow or, more generally, between Byzantine-Greek and Slavic (especially Russian) Orthodoxy. The same holds true for the twentieth century.3 Despite their fundamental antireligious stance, the communist regimes preferred in many cases to use the respective Orthodox Churches for their own sake. Thus, skilfully, yet carefully and diplomatically, they exploited the traditional Slavic Orthodox claims as opposed to the Greek Orthodox ones for the extension of their own sphere of influence, for example, concerning the issue of primacy in the Orthodox world. Such an instrumentalization did not go unnoticed by the OCG, which generally took a defensive stance in supporting its own rights, as well as those of other sister, Greek-controlled churches, particularly that of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Thus, no matter how strong its ties to the Orthodox Churches behind the Iron Curtain were, the OCG clearly remained a staunch defender of traditional Greek Orthodox rights. This happened despite the fact that issues of dissension existed even within the Greek-controlled Orthodox Churches themselves, such as between the OCG and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.