Christians of the world in Aghios Andreas: Not everyone welcomes them

Manuel Quintero, ATHENS, Grecia, May 12, 2005

A group of Greek Orthodox Christians protested the presence of close to 700 Christians from Taxi Heathrow Airport a variety of confessions and more than 100 countries here for the 13th World Conference on Mission and Evangelization.

The group demonstrated in front of the Aghios Andreas centre (where the conference is being held) and distributed pamphlets containing strident slogans.

Those repudiating the conference are the same people who nearly four years ago were opposed to Pope John Paul II's visit to Greece.

Pope John Paul II visited Athens in early May 2001, the first Roman Catholic pope to visit the country in 1,291 years, invited by the government of Costis Stephanopoulos and not by the Church of Greece.

At that time, as well as expressing their rejection in the streets with signs that called the Pope the Anti-Christ and "persona non grata" several Monasteries flew black flags and some Churches rang out their bells in protest.

Many Orthodox faithful, including a significant sector of the clergy, blame the Catholic papacy for the major schism of 1054 and the Fourth Crusade, which sacked Constantinople in 1204.

Manifestations of these "conservative" Orthodox faithful in a country that many analysts already consider conservative due to its strict compliance with traditions and customs was a picturesque note in a meeting that took place without major problems despite the broad diversity of Christians experiences and confessions participating in the event.

"No to the Masonic invitation of the World Council of Churches in Orthodox Greece" and "Heretics of the World Council of Churches return to Orthodoxy, which is the only truth", stated the flyers that did not make it into the centre, heavily guarded by the military, but fell onto the stony ground that leads to a nearby restaurant, frequented by journalists covering the conference.

Greece is one of the most religious societies in Europe and the massive participation in festivities on the Christian calendar, as well as the high number of religious baptisms and funerals, demonstrate the importance of grassroots religion in this Mediterranean nation.

Of all Europeans, the Greeks hold the most religious marriages, nearly 90 percent compared to an average 74 percent on other countries on the continent.

Those protesting at Aghios Andreas, who after two days of peaceful and silent demonstrations abandoned the area, firmly believe that they are protecting, with their acts and declarations, the purity of Orthodoxy from heretic innovations in practice and doctrine.

A purity that for sectarian and fundamentalist Orthodox is being threatened by statements from Patriarch Christodoulus, head of the church of Greece, who during the conference affirmed the need for ecumenical encounters and dialogue, as well as a new articulation of the identity and Christian mission to confront contemporary challenges.