February 2, 2023
FEATURED, Social, Society
High school students in Herakleio, Crete, are forced to have lessons in a church, because there is not enough place, read: classroom, for them in the school building. The small chapel is located in the courtyard of Kapetanakeio school and has been converted into a classroom, since the school facilities …
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January 27, 2023
FEATURED, Society, Very Mix
Greek police was set on alert on Friday morning after new threatening e-mails were sent again to Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” as well as several hospitals and one church in the Greek capital. The e-mails warned of the existence of explosive devices, i.e. “mines” at the airport and the …
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August 25, 2022
FEATURED, Lifestyle, Society
A little known sect organized an admittedly “unique” event on the central Aristotelous square in Thessaloniki: exorcisms performed outdoors. A big screen was displaying “exorcisms” and a crowd of people curiously watching a new …transcendental experience.The exorcisms were held also in English so that tourists could understand. Alarmed by the …
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May 25, 2022
Politics, World
The Russian Orthodox Church has let Christian Orthodox fathers down by supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual head of some 260 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, said in an interview. Moscow calls its three-month-old invasion a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of fascists, an assertion Kyiv …
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December 26, 2021
Politics, Turkey-GR
Turkey has converted another Hagia Sophia church into a mosque. To stress yet another provocation towards the former Greek Orthodox community and Greece , Ankara held the opening ceremony on the Christmas Eve, on December 24. The 12th century church is located in the northwest province of Edirne on the …
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November 22, 2021
CORONAVIRUS
The Holy Synod of the Greek Church said on Monday that churches cannot ensure compliance of the faithful with the government measures to contain the spread of Covid-19. The new restrictions in force since Monday morning, November 22, oblige the unvaccinated to show a negative Rapid test before entering churches. …
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August 26, 2021
CORONAVIRUS, FEATURED
In a highly symbolic move, a church in Heraklio, Crete, will serve as vaccination center upon the initiative of the priest in charge, Father Andreas Kaliontzakis. Located in the village of Acharnes, around 20 minutes from the city of Iraklio, the Church of Panagia Acharnon will serve locals and non-locals …
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March 31, 2021
Greece, Politics
An extraordinary emergency grant due to the pandemic will be allocated to the Church of Greece, the Church of Crete, the Holy Metropolises of Dodecanese, the Central Israeli Council of Greece, Ecclesiastical Legal Entities and Religious Legal Entities, the Education & Religious Affairs Ministry decided on Wednesday. The allowance is …
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January 4, 2021
Greece, Politics
“The law cannot be applied as needed so that anyone who disagrees can sidestep it,” the government said in a response statement to the Church of Greece late on Monday. “Beyond a mere obligation, the implementation of preventive measures is also an act of social solidarity and responsibility, by all …
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November 22, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Tension between police, the son of a priest and two faithful went high on Sunday morning and ended with fines and arrests. The incident took place in the church of Riza, village in Halkidiki, northern Greece, when some neighbors reported to police that the church had opened its doors to …
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November 8, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Greek Police conducted sweeping checks for compliance with the measures of the second lockdown in the country. In a statement on Sunday, Police said that there were 55,724 police checks to ensure compliance with Covid-19 control measures on Saturday, November 7, the first day of the lockdown. Checks led to …
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October 26, 2020
CORONAVIRUS, FEATURED
Greece’s ruling conservative party and local authorities gladly turn a blind eye when it comes to crowding in churches and the breaking of coronavirus restrictions in the nameof a higher, spiritual purpose. On the Eve of Saint Demetrios celebration day, the patron of Thessaloniki hundreds of faithful gathered at the …
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September 21, 2020
World
North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski has appealed to the global seat of Orthodoxy in Istanbul to recognize the independence of his country’s Orthodox Church, Greek state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported on Monday. “I turn to you, on behalf of a large portion of my fellow citizens, who identify themselves as …
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August 21, 2020
Greece, Politics
The Greek Foreign Ministry described Turkey’s decision to convert the Monastery of Chora into a mosque as “another provocation against religious people everywhere in the world as well as against the international community that respects the monuments of the human civilization.” “After Hagia Sophia and despite the international reaction, the …
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August 21, 2020
FEATURED, Turkey-GR
President Recept Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree on Friday morning that converts another historical Byzantine church in Istanbul into a mosque. After Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora will also open for Islamic prayers and lose its status as a museum. The church in Chora is …
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April 13, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Mayor of Corfu, Meropi Ydraiou apologized on Monday for her church going a day earlier although she claimed at the same time that she did not attend the religious service but the procession of Agios Spyridion inside the Church. Playing with words and semantics, she said that she stayed in …
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April 13, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
This Easter will be different, without any traveling, gatherings or visits to the churches, while visits to relatives’ and friends’ houses to celebrate are not permitted, Greece’s government spokesperson Stelios Petsas warned on Monday, right at the beginning of the Holy Week. “We disapprove incidents like those in Koukaki and …
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April 12, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Greek state and religious authorities have launched investigation into two priests who share the Holy Communion to fiathful, despite the explicit ban by both authorities. It was a priest in Koukaki district in Athens, who gave the Holy Communion to children and elderly at the back door of the church, …
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April 5, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Dozens of citizens, mainly elderly, ignored the lockdown restrictions and followed the invitation of a priest to go to the church and receive the Holy Communion. Police intervened and fined the faithful for violating the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The priest in Agia Triada Church in …
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April 2, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
The Church of Greece will hold liturgies during Easter Week behind closed doors and Greeks will “celebrate” Resurrection in the churches on May 26, 2020, the Holy Synod decided late on Wednesday. The country’s top clergy urged the faithful to follow safety instructions concerning the coronavirus, to stay at home …
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