Everything started from the exhortation of Kyriakos Velopoulos to the MPs and executives of the New Democracy not to come to the churches on Easter, because they will provoke the faithful and suffer the consequences. And it develops into a conflict between Mr. Velopoulos and his party and the Archbishop.
What did Kyriakos Velopoulos say in Parliament? Why did he prevent New Democracy politicians from going to church on Easter? Because they will be slapped or beaten… meant the leader of the Hellenic Solution, who, as he fiercely competes with the victory of Mr. Natsios, wants the religious and fanatical public to cooperate.
Velopoulos’ statements
“Those of you who voted, don’t give a grip to some extreme elements, as happened, to divide the flock on the holy days of Easter. Those of you who voted, don’t go to church on the holy days of Easter,” said Mr. Velopoulos.
“I begged, urged, appealed to the parliamentarians who voted for the law on same-sex couples, that it would be good not to go to church, since Easter is sacred for the faithful. I insist on the advice not to divide the Greeks again. From the moment who go against the dogma, they have no reason to go to the Church. If I was against Islam, I would not go to the mosque in Ramadan. It is against the essence of the dogma, I don’t know if he is an infidel, I know what he voted for.” he said in his subsequent statements.
This statement that caused uproar as it reminded of Golden Dawn, combined with the performance of Mr. Velopoulos’ deputies in the Parliament and the beatings with the other Spartans, deeply disturbed the Church and personally Hieronymus, who hastened to distance himself clearly from “jesus letter writer”. (Another case with Mr. Velopoulos as the protagonist that had greatly disturbed the Church).
Jerome’s statements
Speaking in Delesi, where together with the prime minister they visited structures of the Holy Synod, the Archbishop could not have been more clear. Kyriakos Velopoulos is not speaking to us, was his message…
“We have our fixed lines and our fixed lines are the Gospel, the word of God, the positions of the Church. We cannot move beyond these positions. Therefore, we do neither what Mr. Velopoulos will tell us, nor what any politician will tell us. We respect the opinions, we measure them and we do what God says: we love all people”, said the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymos.
Angry reactions from the Greek solution
Hieronymus’ annoyance with Velopoulos’s statements and his indirect but clear disapproval of them caused a shock in the Greek Solution which was initially directed directly against the Archbishop. Characteristic are what the parliamentary representative of the party said in the Parliament, coming directly against Hieronymos:
“We read some statements and we thought they were made by the government representative Pavlos Marinakis. Unfortunately we saw that they were made by Archbishop Hieronymos. In the role of the government’s press representative, Archbishop Hieronymos adopts what they say the NT trolls on the internet and the paid sites for a falsified statement of our president”, Mr. Chitas initially said and added:
“The president told us not to go to the churches for vote-hunting reasons and it was an advice – don’t go if you want. He didn’t tell you not to go. The fact that the Archbishop adopts what the ND says saddens us. We thought it was Pavlos Marinakis. Christodoulos would not make such a statement. Pre-election, the archbishop takes on another role. To rise to the occasion. Ieronymos does not need to be such an ardent supporter of Mitsotakis,” said Konstantinos Chitas.
A little while later, Kyriakos Velopoulos realized how dangerous it is for his party to come into conflict with the Church and tried to “collect the case”. But again, he left spikes against the head of the Church, perhaps because he believes that the case will have a continuation and wants to have weapons in his quiver.
Mr. Velopoulos referred to the Church saying that it should not lead the faithful to specific political spaces, and launched an attack on the ND as well, claiming that Hieronymos’ statements are being used as pre-election tools by Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“We are in complete agreement with the Archbishop’s statement,” the president of the Hellenic Solution specifically pointed out, responding to Archbishop Hieronymos, and went on to say:
“No politician can give instructions neither to the clergy nor to the hierarchy,” said Mr. Velopoulos and threw the big nail to Jerome.
“Just as the hierarchy should not lead the faithful to specific political areas. Unfortunately, however, the Archbishop’s statement is being used as a pre-election tool by the ND and Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself.”
“For the Hellenic Solution, the Church is the whole of the people, the Clergy and the Hierarchy” pointed out the president of the Hellenic Solution” concluding.
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Tags: Hellenic Solution Velopoulos mess Archbishop Ieronymos
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