Persecution of Macedonian Christians in Greece

Religious Freedom Abuses – The Case of the Macedonian Orthodox Christian Minority in Greece

Last month, the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) published a new report: Greece: Religious Freedom Abuses – The Case of the Macedonian Orthodox Christian Minority. The report outlines the culture of abuse inherent to the Greek legal system concerning the lack of religious freedom, and it outlines the grievances of recent immigrants, the historic Turkish minority in Thrace, and the indigenous Macedonian Orthodox Christian community in northern Greece.

The report raises a number of concerns arising out of the lack of any formal or informal separation of church and state in Greece, resulting in the Greek Orthodox Church being de facto an organ of the Greek government. Article 3 of the Greek Constitution defines the Greek Orthodox Church (GOC) as “the prevailing religion.” Thus, only the Greek Orthodox clergy are considered civil servants, and practices such as proselytism and cremation are forbidden. The legal system does not allow religions other than Greek Orthodox to legally practice, as in the high-profile prosecutions against the Turkish Muftis of Xanthi, cases that were later abrogated at the European Court of Human Rights.

The report states that a number of religious groups face significant religious freedom violations there, including Macedonian Orthodox Christian followers, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Scientologists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, evangelical Christians, and other Protestants.

The plight of the Macedonian Orthodox Christian minority in Greece is even more desperate. The Greek Government has denied a permit to re-establish the Macedonian Orthodox Church at Aridea for two decades, and has imposed complex procedural punishments for the vast majority of the Macedonian population. For example, Greek priests refuse to baptize children with Macedonian names, and GOC leaders like Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki actively encourage violence against Macedonians on nationwide state-funded television. As public employees, a network of GOC informants coordinate with the state police to suppress all Macedonian human rights activities in the country.

Archimandrite Nikodim Tsarknias with Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook

The religious leader of the Macedonian Orthodox Christian community of Greece, Archimandrite Nikodim Tsarknias, visited Washington, D.C. in October 2012 and met with Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Archimandrite Tsarknias brought to Ambassador Johnson Cook’s attention the challenges of the Macedonian Orthodox faith community in Greece and the Greek government’s long-standing policy of hampering down on faith-based communities.

The Archimandrite entered the ranks of the Greek Orthodox Church 39 years ago. Following several disagreements over a 20-year-period with Greek Orthodox Church authorities for his preaching the Bible in the Macedonian language, the Church defrocked him. Since then, he has been jailed, beaten by police, intimidated by the Greek secret services and till this day has not been allowed to build a fully-functioning Macedonian Orthodox Church in Greece. Archimandrite Tsarknias lives with tremendous fear for his life on a daily basis, and has been subjected to over a dozen lawsuits and arrest warrants, costing him and the Macedonian community in Greece over 50,000 euros in legal fees.

UMD hopes to see Athens guarantee equal religious freedom for all Greek citizens and residents, in accordance with international law. UMD calls upon Greece to ratify the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and to actively and in good faith secure religious freedom for all religious minorities in Greece.