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Beards, cassocks and head-dress to remain compulsory for Greek clergy
2002-241-14
10/18/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
Leaders of the (Orthodox) Church of Greece have rejected a request by priests to be allowed to dispense with traditional beards, cassocks and head-dress. The church's Holy Synod decided to preserve the traditional dress after considering arguments made by some clergy that these were uncomfortable and lacked 'relevance' in current times.
Ignatius Soferiades, a spokesman for the church's governing Holy Synod, explained the decision in terms of showing consideration for the faithful: 'When they kiss their [priests'] hands and ask for blessings, people like to see their priests looking different from other citizens…Our way of living and believing isn't the same as in other countries. If the faithful are asking for these [traditional signs of dress], we've no right to change them from one day to the next.'
Soferiades was speaking after a synod debate, called when priests complained that the cassocks and kamilavki headgear they wear were too hot and 'irrelevant to contemporary times.' A brief communiqué said synod members had unanimously decided traditional clerical dress 'posed no problems,' and that the issue of change 'did not arise.'
Priests were allowed to don ordinary clothes when driving, shopping or spending time with their families, Soferiades told ENI, but were also expected to act 'at all times in the spirit of tradition.' 'To claim traditional clerical garb is alienating rather than attracting people is an exaggeration--everyone knows this is the official form of dress,' said the priest, who sits on the synod's commission for inter-Christian relations.
The synod ruling followed the rejection of other recent calls for change, including a plea for church services in modern Greek as a way of winning back lapsed church members. The church claims the nominal loyalty of 97 per cent of the country's population of 10.6 million.
The Church of Greece synod also recently rejected calls for a change in celibacy rules to allow priests to marry after ordination. Under current rules, Orthodox priests must marry before being ordained, or subsequently remain monks.
The constitution of Greece, a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union, declares Orthodoxy the 'dominant religion' and prohibits Bible translations without prior Orthodox consent.
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