Greece Enacts Law Seizing Property of Orthodox Church
Parliament today passed a sweeping law that transfers the property of Greece’s largest church to farm cooperatives and government authorities.
Greek Orthodox bishops have vowed to fight the legislation, sponsored by the Socialist government, and threatened to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is not subject to Greek law.
There was no immediate word on whether Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios, the world leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, would allow such a union.
The law calls for church property to be transferred to the state within the next six months. Farmers belonging to Socialist-controlled cooperatives will take over around 350,000 acres of forests and farmland owned by Greece’s 470 monasteries and convents.
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