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Intelligent Design theory, which attributes to a higher intellect the responsibility of creating life, so complex and unpredictable that it did not appear on Earth by chance, has never been deeply ingrained in Greek society. The connection with God has always transcended the normality of the Scriptures and has always leaned towards the abandonment of otherness, with the constant aim of highlighting all those internal characteristics of each one that would point not so much to an evolving society as to a world created on the teachings of Christ.
And Epiphany is one of the glorious holidays of Christianity where Greeks go to churches to attend service and get a bottle of holy water for the house. Epiphanies are also collected on the beaches, ports, lakes or rivers, where each Parish traditionally chooses to see the priest throw the Cross and sanctify the waters. The relationship of the country’s inhabitants with its seas and rivers has always hidden a strong symbolism. The Aegean, the turbulent Aegean, the ships that pick up the horns that are heard in ports.
Pilots in the … battle of the Aegean against the Turkish fighters.
However, this year’s Epiphany will not be celebrated as the pandemic forced people to honor and participate in all the important celebrations, beginning with Easter last year, but in a charged and dangerously tense atmosphere. In the midst of the war of life against death caused by the coronavirus, the rupture in the relations of the Church with the Government was sudden and profound, breaking not only the relations between the two institutions – incorporating into the war rhetoric terms such as “Line Red “but and sow doubt and reflection among religious and clergy.
Things are not going well in Greece with the evolution of the pandemic. But not in Europe and the rest of the world. Restriction measures are being taken more and more frequently with a stricter character. The government, as the Church has been declaring in recent hours, decided at the last minute to withdraw the agreement and not allow the celebration of the Epiphany as it was done at Christmas and New Year, that is, with a limited number of believers in the temples and Observance of safety measures and distances.
This decision caused intense discomfort in the Holy Synod which, after a teleconference of its members, decided to circumvent the government’s decision. In fact, according to some information, Archbishop Ieronymos, who a few days ago gave a very difficult battle against the crown, has decided to attend a panegyric for the sanctification of the waters.
After all, since Monday night, many metropolises, through their presence on social networks, have invited the faithful to go to churches to celebrate the Epiphany, showing the same respect and attention as Christmas and the new Year. For example, the Dioceses of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia announced that “our Church has decided to keep our temples open. Come, observing all the appropriate security measures, to show our spirituality and our Christian mind ”.
Many hierarchs are determined to march against the decision of the State and honor the Epiphany, inviting people to attend the celebration, protecting each other, but keeping the temples open and throwing the Cross into the water.
It remains to be seen what the government will do now and how it will enforce its will. She herself said Monday that the law applies to everyone. He announced, reacting to the decision of the “rebellion” of the Holy Permanent Synod, that “within the measures that came into force yesterday and that will last until January 11, the churches will remain closed to the faithful and will not be consecrated on the day of the Epiphany “. outdoor water.
At all stages of the pandemic, the Government was in constant consultation with the Church on matters of liturgy, with respect for public health and the faith of the people. In this context, Christmas and New Year services were held and the Epiphany service was foretold.
The need not to jeopardize the constant course of the fight against the virus, especially with the reopening of schools, forced this week to return to the previous regime of restrictions on the market and society, including the willingness to operate. of the Epiphany without the presence of believers. Of course, there remains the possibility of incidental individual prayer of the faithful in the temples.
The Epiphany service will be performed internally by the priests, while as of January 11, the presence of believers will be allowed again for Sunday services with the rules that were in force at Christmas and New Years.
But for the Church, everything shows that the knot has reached the scallop. And he warns that he will get to the point, if the state sends the Police to the temples to impose fines, to pay them.
The spokesman for the Holy Permanent Synod, Metropolitan Atenágoras, told MEGA: “For nine months the Church has fully complied with all the measures. He accepted that the churches in the first quarantine were completely closed. We cannot perceive the turn of the government. When both parties reach an agreement and one of the two parties decides to change it, at least the other party must be informed. Pacta sunt servanda. Agreements must be respected. ”
He spoke of a “little frustration with the form of communication” between the state and the church. “In difficult situations, the prime minister and the archbishop found a solution. “Something like this could happen now,” he added. He was also asked if the Police are going to impose fines on the hierarchs during the Epiphany and he replied that “the Police will do their job and we will do ours.”
However, he pointed out that the church will pay the fines that the Police certify, without responding, however, if it will pay the fines that can be certified to the faithful. And in conclusion: “The theme of the celebration of Epiphany was a red line.”
The high priests and clergy ask that the services take place like Christmas and New Years, that is, with 25 people in churches or 50 in metropolitan churches. In fact, they highlight that the measures were literally observed by the faithful during the holidays.
The Holy Synod recalls, in fact, “that during the celebration of Christmas and New Years and the other days of the Twelve Days in the thousands of Holy Temples with the care of the local Most Reverend Metropolitans and the pious clergy, all the provisions were observed prescribed. crown »
“I always serve foie gras to the Queen of England”
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