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The government backed down in terms of the measures of operation of the temples during the festive fortnight after the reactions within the Church.
According to the published Official Gazette, the services of 12/25/2020, 1/1/2021 and 6/1/2021 with the presence of believers are expected for the churches. One believer for every 15 square meters. with a maximum number of 25 believers for the holy temples and a maximum number of 50 people for the metropolitan temples.
At the same time, Epiphany is forbidden to perform the sanctification of the waters in open spaces, while it is only allowed inside the holy temples.
Regarding New Year’s Eve, especially on 24-25 / 12/2020 and 1/1/2021, meetings are allowed with a maximum of 9 people from two families. 
“Green light” from infectious disease specialists
As a result, the infectious diseases committee gave a “green light” to the Church’s requests to increase the number of believers in the temples during the Christmas period depending on the capacity of the temple.
The decision was announced in advance by Professor of Microbiology Thanasis Tsakris. “It was agreed in the metropolitan churches to increase the number of people to 50, (clergy and laity), while a safe limit is to have one person for every 15 square meters”.
It was preceded, on Monday afternoon, by a telephone conversation that Kyriakos Mitsotakis had with Archbishop Ieronymos. During this time, the Prime Minister stated that the government will follow the decisions of the Committee of Experts on the operation of the churches during the Christmas holidays.
Mr. Mitsotakis, who informed the archbishop about the epidemiological data prevailing throughout Greece, asked the Church to strictly observe the decisions of scientists, taking all protective measures.
It is worth noting, however, that government spokesperson Stelios Petsas clarified yesterday that there is no discussion about changing the limit on the number of believers (9 people in churches and 25 in metropolitan churches) that has been decided and any flexibility would have to see with the possibility. that the churches function one more day, that is, on New Year’s Eve.
Adopting the attitude of moderate metropolitans, the professor of epidemiology at the medical school of the University of Athens, Athena Linou, characterized the Church’s request is logical to enter the temple people depending on the square meters of space.
“If attention is paid to the proposal on the condition that the doors and windows of the temples are open, but also the services will be brief, then the churches can be open on Christmas days,” he said.
The position of DIS
With these data, it seems that any resistance from the metropolitans who in recent days had divided into different “camps” will be broken.
The ongoing Holy Permanent Synod is expected to discuss the government’s measures and take a position on them.
Regarding the arguments of the metropolitans, the definition of a maximum of 9 people in each church in each function, and a maximum of 25 people if it is metropolitan was considered an inapplicable measure. This is because there are very large churches that are not metropolitan (eg Agios Panteleimon of Athens), but also areas that have two metropolitan churches (eg Boeotia). Likewise, those who opposed the measures significantly asked how the minimum number of people will be observed if 100 people arrive at the service.
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