Demetrios Constantelos

Greek Orthodoxy - From Apostolic Times to the Present Day

The nearby Church of Cyprus is one of the oldest autocephalous Christian communities. It became self-governing during the sixth century, when Justinian granted it special privileges. It has suffered much, from the seventh century up to recent times, as a result of the strategic position of the island and its having been conquered several times. Nevertheless, it has more than half a million members. It is a vigorous Church, with a seminary, three metropolitan episcopates, philanthropic institution, and periodicals.

The Church of Greece, with a membership of approximately nine million people, was officially recognized as a self-governing church in 1850. She increased both territorially and numerically after a series of revolutionary wars that brought to the Greek nation the territories of Epiros, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace and the Ionian and Aegean islands. Greece is a solidly Orthodox Christian country. The Church is indeed "the soul of Greece," as an American author recently observed.

The Church of Greece is divided into 66 small dioceses, with 7,765 parishes, more or less, whose vitality in the post-World War II period was notable in religious education, social consciousness, and theological scholarship. The catechetical, or Sunday schools are a source of pride in Greece for both clergymen and laymen. The religious revivals initiated by such movements as Zoë, the Orthodox Christian Unions, Apostolike Diakonia, and Soter, to mention only the most important of them, gave new life to the Church of Greece. During the war and postwar years, between 1940 and 1947, the young people of Greece were sought after by Communist youth organizations and religious youth societies, and most joined one or the other. Young men and women, perplexed and confused as result of the decadence, injustices, and brutality introduced by the "civilized barbarians" of the twentieth century, desperately needed guidance and structure in their lives.

Several young men I knew would undoubtedly have joined the Communist movement had a vigorous Church and vital religious organizations not attracted them away from communism. The Christian organizations worked through various channels and reached every class of people. The simple peasant as well as the university professor, the young laborer as well as the university student, the parent as well as the young girl could find in the Church a place of love and solace. The catechetical schools reached their zenith in the middle 1950’s. Up to 1954 the Church of Greece counted more than 7,750 well-organized Sunday schools.

Cf.  Books for getting closer to Orthodox Christianity ||| Orthodox Images of the Christ ||| Byzantium : The Alternative History of Europe ||| The pulse of Ancient Rome was driven by a Greek heart ||| Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire ||| Schmemann, A History of the Orthodox Church ||| Videos about Byzantium and Orthodoxy ||| Aspects of Byzantium in Modern Popular Music ||| 3 Posts on the Fall of Byzantium  ||| Greek Literature / The New Testament

On Line Resources for Constantinople * On the future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-orthodox-history.asp?pg=20