Top churchmen yesterday summoned the faithful to a nationwide, all-night prayer next week for the scandal-mired Church to overcome the ballooning crisis, as a bishop forced to resign for corruption implicated politicians in the alleged trial-fixing ring thought to have comprised clerics and judges.
Meanwhile, criminal charges for concealing assets were brought against three judges suspected of involvement in the ring, while a fourth member of the judiciary faced disciplinary action for allegedly refusing to repay a 2,000-euro loan to a New Democracy MP.
The Church of Greece’s ruling body, the Holy Synod, yesterday accepted the resignation announced on Friday by Theoklitos, Bishop of Thessaliotis, who is alleged to have maintained ties with the trial-fixing ring. Theoklitos is also accused of having been detained by police on suspicion of drug dealing in a dodgy bar, and of homosexuality — which the Church officially abhors.
The Synod also decided to summon two more bishops to provide explanations today regarding allegations of misconduct, and to dismiss an unmarried priest serving in the archbishopric after video tapes of a sexual content in which he allegedly appeared were made public. The priest was dismissed on the evidence of the tapes, although the Synod had previously refused to take similarly stringent action against Panteleimon, Bishop of Attica — who has been suspended for allegedly seeking to influence senior judges — after audio tapes surfaced in which he apparently had a lewd conversation with a male lover.
Dionysios, Bishop of Chios, will have to answer claims he had secretly banked some $17 million in US accounts, while Nikiforos, Bishop of Didymoteicho, is under scrutiny for alleged sex escapades.
Furthermore, the Synod invited the faithful to participate in a Monday vigil in the country’s main churches “to pray that the crisis is overcome.”
Theoklitos appeared before a Supreme Court judge yesterday to explain why he had falsely given an address in Piraeus as his residence during a court case in the past. Piraeus is believed to have been the center of the trial-fixing ring.
Sources close to Theoklitos said the bishop testified that he had come under pressure from politicians, churchmen and judges to seek the advancement — as chief Synod secretary — of Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis, the alleged eminence grise in the ring. This would ease the pressure on Archbishop Christodoulos, who has been criticized for allegedly favoring Yiossakis. According to the same sources, Theoklitos said Yiossakis had arranged holidays abroad for several judges.
Yesterday, Parliament approved, in principle, a bill against corruption in the judiciary.