Galery

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Today, we are not talking about burning the dead. They call it so, but actually, it is about incineration and establishing crematoria. What do they do in them? After indulging the religious honours and removing all artificial parts such as pacemakers or metal parts, they grind the body so that it can be cremated at high temperature and then give it to us in the form of ashes in the urn. They say it is a tribute to the human body but here one uses all his knowledge to destroy it.

The Church can not think that way. After the funeral procession of Jesus on Good Friday, we read a prophecy of the Holy Prophet Hezekiel when we return to the temple. In it, he describes his conversation with God. He took the Prophet on a mountain where there were many remnants of human bodies. God told the Prophet to command the bones to connect with one another so that they combine with each other. He did it although he had doubts inside. So, the bones connected, then the same happened with the nerve connections and the flesh of any of the people there. We read this prophecy, because the funeral of our God is a preliminary message to His resurrection and the resurrection of every believing Orthodox Christian. If you do not believe, you are unable to understand these things and you take them as a very good story. But during its 2100 years of existence, the Orthodox Church has collected many results of that faith. We have saints, immortal remains that make miracles and they are all evidence of the resurrection. We can not agree with incineration, the cremation of people, as they say. A person could be a saint and his body remains incorruptible to make miracles and be a proof of resurrection. Our disagreement lies in this precisely.

The argument that the burial pollutes the soil and groundwater is not real, because the results of environmental studies show that crematoria pollute the environment much more. They have been talking about it for so many years but there is no crematorium in Greece yet.

They send the bodies in other countries.

Yes, but the atheistic communist regimes in these countries helped for the establishment of crematoria. I would say that people who had no faith created them. It is very easy to create such things when you do not believe in something.

It became clear a few days ago that the state would begin the construction of a mosque in downtown Athens. What is the position of the Greek Church on this issue?

This is a very serious matter. Like the late Archbishop Christodoulos, today’s Yeronimos and the Holy Synod are not against building a mosque. Both archbishops have repeatedly supported its construction. A special committee for immigrants and refugees chaired by me is operating in the Holy Synod. We held many meetings on this topic with imams and representatives of Muslims in Greece, some of which took place in the Christian parishes with the aim the communities to get to know each other.

The Muslims in Greece should be able to fulfill their religious duties freely. Some time ago, the Greek Church provided an area of ​​30 acres near Shisto for the creation of a Muslim cemetery not to have to send the dead to be buried in a cemetery in northern Greece, near Xanthi and Komotini. We even offered then to build a mosque near the cemetery.

Therefore, we are not in any case against the construction of a mosque where the Muslims will be able to perform their religious duties freely. I read the other day about the influence and lobbying by other countries to build a mosque in Athens. We can not agree with these actions. However, state authorities should resolve this issue and we have no interference.

What is the position of the Church to the marriage between people of the same sex?

I would say very simply and without any fear that this is a violation and disobedience to God's law and will. Everyone is free to dispose of his body according to his preferences and to act at his will. The Greek Orthodox Church can not agree with these people because what they do is contrary to the scripture in the Gospel. We love people, but we can not accept their sins. Our God came to earth to take away the sin, to purify the people and make them saints.