dictator).120 The Archbishop appointed by the Junta took part in all the events organized by the regime, and, in fact, during one of them in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, he read a special prayer asking God to keep the lords (i.e., the dictators) well.121 Under the junta, the Church succeeded in having a new Charter Map passed and gained several new privileges, the most important of which was the wage equalization of the clergy with public servants. In addition, it is interesting that in 1973, when Papadopoulos was overthrown by Ioannidis and the leadership of the junta changed, the archbishop was removed as well: Ieronimos was replaced by Seraphim. The latter, however, remained on his throne ater the fall of the junta, since nobody asked for his substitution. The Changeover, in other words, did not touch the Church at all, which kept up with its work and its presence without ever being “dejuntaized”, not even for the sake of appearances. Apart, of course, from the Archbishop, there were other prelates who held oices during the junta, and who continued to play a major part ater 1974. Future Archbishop Christodoulos (1998-2008) was chief secretary of the Holy Synod during the Junta, and when, during his tenure as archbishop, this fact was mentioned, he replied that he was not aware of torture taking place during the junta and that he was not involved in the political reality of the time. The Press spokesman of the Holy Synod replied to the same accusations with the comment that during that time, “the Archbishop was immersed in his studies” (Vassilakis 2006: 63). Moreover, today’s bishop of Kalavrita and Aigialia, Ambrosios, had been a priest in the religious service of the Athens gendarmerie during the junta, a fact that did not prevent him from being elected as a bishop in 1978. From the above, it is easily concluded that the Church of Greece always identiied itself with the broader strategic choices of the so-called “social regime”. A rightwing state meant a right-wing Church. An ultra-right state? The Church would follow. Of course, there were exceptions: during the civil war, there were priests, and even bishops, such as Bishop of Kozani Ioakeim and Bishop of Ilia Antonios, who fought on the side of the communists or supported them openly and consequently were persecuted to the point of being dismissed (Κarayiannis 2001: 77-89). Furthermore, under the junta many priests were punished by the Holy Synod for misconduct such as letism, anti-national activism (The Synodical Circulars 2000: 39), admission of communist beliefs (The Synodical Circulars 2000: 269), etc. As is the case almost everywhere, the Church by nature is a conservative institution, which in the passage of time has co-operated with dictatorial regimes and denounced communism and the let in all their versions. Therefore, the Church of Greece bowed to the ultra-right speech not so much for reasons of principle as for reasons of expediency. Of course, as in any such case, the institutional speech of the Church grew separately, creating its own faits accomplis in cooperation, and occasionally also in conlict, with the State. The fact that Greek 120. 121. See Ekklisia magazine, 3, 1 February 1968, p. 49. See Ekklisia magazine, 10, 15 May 1969, p. 217. MAPPING ULTRA-RIGHT EXTREMISM, XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM WITHIN THE GREEK STATE APPARATUS | 83