Greece’s Orthodox Church rejects government order to close places of worship

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Greece’s powerful Orthodox Church is rebelling against a government order to briefly close places of worship under a week-long drive to tighten virus restrictions before the planned reopening of schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The conservative Church’s ruling body issued a statement directing priests to admit worshippers during indoor services for Wednesday’s feast of the Epiphany&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Holy Synod said it &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;does not accept” the new restrictions&comma; in force from January 3-10&comma; and would send a letter of protest to the centre-right government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After Greece saw a spike of new Covid-19 infections and deaths in November&comma; when intensive care units bordered on full capacity&comma; authorities imposed a second lockdown closing schools and suspending much economic and social activity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The measures were partially relaxed before Christmas&comma; when churches and nonessential shops were allowed to resume some activities&comma; albeit with limitations&comma; together with hair salons and nail parlours&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All these have now been closed for a week as authorities hope to contain the virus spread so schools can reopen on January 11 after a two-month hiatus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Priests are allowed to conduct Epiphany church services&comma; but without admitting worshippers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Monday’s Holy Synod statement said the government should stick to the Christmas relaxation&comma; which had followed negotiations with the Church&comma; arguing that clerics had faithfully observed all agreed pandemic containment measures over the holidays&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Church functionaries have shown a mixed response to pandemic containment measures&comma; largely ranging from lukewarm support to virulent opposition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Church’s moderate leader&comma; Archbishop Ieronymos&comma; who himself contracted and recovered from Covid-19&comma; has backed the country’s ongoing vaccination drive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But a conservative bishop made headlines shortly after Christmas by railing against the vaccines&comma; telling parishioners he had been informed that they included material harvested from aborted foetuses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Monday’s Holy Synod statement urged the European Union leadership&comma; and the Greek government&comma; to ensure that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the necessary number of approved vaccines is immediately secured for citizens”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed11d9b4765">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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