This week’s two-day sessions of the permanent Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece concluded today, with hierarchs convening for the first time in person, after months of holding sessions remotely.
According to exclusive reports by the Orthodoxia news agency, members of the permanent Holy Synod may request explanations from a handful of Metropolitans around the country who failed to comply with pandemic-related measures foreseen for Church services during the recently passed Holy and Great Easter Week, and especially for the Resurrection service on the evening of Holy Saturday.
The Church of Greece had instructed its hierarchs and clergymen to hold the splendorous Resurrection service no later than 9 in the evening, three hours earlier than the tradition midnight hour.
In some instances cathedrals hosted more worshippers than foreseen under the extraordinary measures to prevent exposure to the Covid-19 virus, while in some cases worshippers failed to wear mandatory face masks.
Additionally, according to sources, the Holy Synod, chaired by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos, may convene an extraordinary session in late June to elect new Metropolitans for the Metropolises of Kastoria, Lagada and Kilkis.
In a related development, His Beatitude Ieronymos on Wednesday received the visiting Prime Minister of Montenegro, Zdravko Krivokapić, who arrived in the Greek capital at the head of a high-ranking government delegation.
A day earlier, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece met with the Greek government’s deputy minister for digital governance, Georgios Georgantas.
Among others, the deputy minister briefed the Archbishop over the course of the Covid-19 vaccination program in Greece, noting that more than 114,000 doses were given on Tuesday alone in the country – a one-day record.
During the course of the discussion, the Archbishop revealed that he is scheduled to be vaccinated today, Wednesday.