The Standing Synod of the Church of Greece concerning a new law which is in contradiction with the Teaching of the Orthodox Church
March 1, 2016. In the session of March, the Standing Synod of the Church of Greece expressed its discomfort against the new law (4368/2016) about the willing of the funeral of a departed person, as the official website of the Church of Greece reports.
The new law imposes the obligation to all Greek priests to celebrate the office of funeral for every person wants it even for those who chose the cremation instead of being buried. The Standing Synod underlined that the choice of an Orthodox funeral can’t be combined with cremation because it’s against the Tradition of the Orthodox Church and the legislator keeps silence about it.
The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece mentions that she had addressed a letter to the Minister and she asked him to keep a stipulation in favor of the Canons of the Church and the tradition of every religious community but it was ignored.
The Standing Synod considers that “this law is not in conformity with the Constitution. The State has to realize that Religious Freedom is for all. That means that a law in favor of atheists or in favor of people who have indifferent position towards the religion can’t be imposed to the Orthodox Church which is the majority in Greece. Those who spread lies and insist on saying that the Church of Greece is against because she will lose money from the cemeteries, have to know that money from the cemeteries go directly to the Municipality. If the Church of Greece was interested in money she would agree to the celebration of the funeral for those who chose the cremation”, says the Standing Synod.