CHAPTER 5 The Church of Greece Alexandros Sakelariou 1/ FROM THE HISTORICAL TIES BETWEEN NATION AND RELIGION TO THE LEGAL TIES BETWEEN STATE AND CHURCH Including the Orthodox Church of Greece in a study about the ultra-right and racism raises certain reasonable questions for anyone unaware of people and things in this particular ield. The irst and main question is whether the Orthodox Church actually is, and why it is considered to be, a State apparatus. In the irst place, the Constitution of Greece begins with a religious invocation: In the name of the Holy and Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity. This fact alone proves not only a general respect for the Divine, but also an explicit reference to Christian religion and theology. This close connection becomes more apparent and speciic in Article 3 (para. 1) of the Constitution: The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. Although some have tried to present this provision as a manifestation of the Orthodox religious stance of the majority of the Greek people, or as an honour due to the historical and cultural contribution of the Orthodox Church (Venizelos 2000: 144-147), the need for its presence in the constitutional text has not been explained. Finally, Article 16 of the Constitution, which deals with education, stresses the need to develop both national and religious consciousness – which apparently cannot be any other than the Orthodox one. Yet these are not the only points that demonstrate the virtual statehood of the Church. In the Charter Map of the Orthodox Church, which was voted as law of the State in 1977 (Law 590), it is mentioned (Article 1) that the Church of Greece and the Monasteries, as well as diferent Church organizations, are Institutions of Public Law, thus clearly parts of the State apparatus. Let it be noted that Jewish communities as well as Mutiships are Public Law Institutions too, but their relationship with the State is by no means the same as that of the Orthodox Church; more particularly, regarding Mutiships, their integration into the State served the obvious oicial objective of controlling the Muslim minority. Furthermore, all laws of the Church are ratiied and published in the Oicial Government Gazette, while priests are public servants and are paid by the State. It is worth MAPPING ULTRA-RIGHT EXTREMISM, XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM WITHIN THE GREEK STATE APPARATUS | 81