ABSTRACT
Greek society has undergone significant transformations in the last two decades in the pace of globalization and multiculturalism, the latter mainly as a result of the subsequent waves of immigration into the country, and especially Muslim immigrants. Within this context, it is evident that the issue of immigration, not only in Greece, but in most European and Western countries, is closely linked to the issue of religious minorities, and raises further questions regarding the effective implementation of human rights, and more specifically of religious freedom. The specificities of Greece’s historical legacy, and Church–State relations, clearly differentiate this country in several accounts from other European and Western countries. The significance of the Church’s hegemonic position and politicization in Greece can only be understood against the background of the complex relationship between Church and nation, Orthodoxy and modern Greek identity, which constitute a characteristic feature of Greece’s historical, socio-religious, and politico-religious heritage. In fact, the Orthodox religion remains deeply nationalistic in orientation and intertwined with the nineteenth-century interpretation of Greek national identity whereby Orthodoxy and Greece are viewed as inseparable (Fokas, 2008; Manitakis, 2000; Pollis, 1992; Roudometof, 2005, 2011). The nationalization of the Orthodox Church of Greece (OCG) is the result of a long historical process dating back to the Greek Revolution of 1821 against the Ottomans, and the subsequent creation of an independent Greek State in 1830. The Church settlement of 1833, by which ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate were severed, and the Church was declared autocephalous and subject to a considerable degree of government control, constituted a significant breach with tradition (Clogg, 1992: 50). 1 Relations with the Patriarchate were not formally restored until 1850, when Constantinople recognized the 1833 settlement. 2 The aforementioned breach with tradition took place within the broader context of emergence of nation-states in Europe that marked the nineteenth century, and more specifically, the context of nationalization of Orthodoxy – first initiated in Russia by Czar Peter the Great (1682–1725) – which was basically a modern phenomenon (Makrides, 2009: 73). 3
