Greece's leftist leader makes a deft start in relations with the church
By B.C.
GREECE'S new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, made history within hours of his victory by informing the Archbishop of Athens, very politely, that clerical services would not be required for his swearing-in ceremony. An avowed atheist who has nonetheless made a point of dealing courteously with senior clergy, Mr Tsipras lost no time in making known that his oath of office would be a secular procedure. It was also explained that when the whole cabinet was sworn in, a more junior cleric (but not the archbishop) would be invited to assist those who wished to take a religious oath.
It's hard to overstate what a rupture this marks with the ceremonial culture of Greece. For as long as anybody can remember, every senior office-holder, from socialists to right-wing dictators, has assumed the post with a ritual involving Bibles, crosses and often holy water, sprinkled about with a sprig of basil. The opening words of the Greek constitution recall the theological formulas of the early church which predate by the Hellenic state by more than 1,300 years: "In the name of the holy, consubstantial and indivisible Trinity......"
This intertwining of religion and state dates from the earliest years of Greek independence, although the two things (Hellenic statehood and Orthodoxy) were not quite as entangled at the very beginning as you might think. Some of the protagonists of the Greek revolution were francophile secularists, and the Patriarch of Constantinople deplored the Greek uprising of 1821—although the Ottomans still hanged him because of the "disloyalty" of his flock.
Syriza is committed to disentangling church and state, but it won't be done hastily or confrontationally. Well before last night's victory, the Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos, and Mr Tsipras were getting to know one another. Although most rites of passage in Mr Tsipras's life have been secular, the archbishop conducted a religious funeral for the politician's father. In contrast with his tub-thumping predecessor, Ieronymos is a political moderate who has condemned the ultra-rightists of Golden Dawn and stressed that the church is at the service of everybody, regardless of their race or metaphysical beliefs. That helps too.
Nikos Kosmidis, a Syriza activist from northern Greece who is also a devout Orthodox Christian, said his party leader's choice of a secular oath was, paradoxically, an act of respect for the church and its integrity. Rather than appropriating religious rituals for political ends, as previous leaders had done, he was "acknowledging the sanctity of church services and behaving with respect to all of us (practising Christians)...Instead of him taking a false oath, we will offer him our sincere prayers." Amen.
