Representation of the Church of Greece to the European Union

Cyprus: Freedom of Religion and its Cultural Heritage.

European Parliament 10 November 2015

By Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia

Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of the experiment to build and secure peace in the world. That is because religious faith is not merely a matter of “toleration” or tolerance, but is understood to be the exercise of “inherent natural rights.”

The contemporary model of religious freedom in the EU takes a clear positive view of religious practice, both private and public. This does not mean that anything and everything done in the name of religious freedom is not subject to the rule of law. In fact it does mean that the law ought to make as much room as possible for the practice of religious faith and freedom of speech. Far from privatizing religion, it assumes that religious believers and institutions will take active roles in society, including engaging in politics and policy-making and helping form the public’s moral consensus. This is the meaning of article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty which encourages the dialogue between European Institutions on the one hand and Churches and communities of faith on the other. In fact, this article considered religious engagement in shaping a society with common principles and values.

As for cultural heritage, today as in the past, it continues to perform its irreplaceable role as a vector of meaning and identity for communities and individuals. However, it is striking how far the very definition of what constitutes the cultural heritage, in both its tangible and intangible forms, has evolved within the scientific community over recent decades to include an increasingly large section of the environment and human forms of expression.

The tangible cultural heritage today is no longer limited to great monuments and iconic archaeological sites, but also encompasses a much larger array of culturally significant places, such as historic cities, living rural areas and seascapes, gardens or forests and mountains, industrial areas, and even sites associated with painful memories and war.

The intangible cultural heritage gained greater recognition and a more formal status following the adoption by UNESCO of a Convention for its safeguarding in 2003. According to this Convention the intangible cultural heritage includes oral traditions, the performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, and knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

In political science and public discourse, an attempt has been made to separate religion from culture. Part of the consequences of religion’s “deculturation” is that both religious believers and their critics view religion as something that makes sense and can be understood outside of its cultural context. Today’s seminar may prove to be useful in better understanding how closely the cultural heritage is linked to the lives of communities and is fully integrated into religious, social, economic and environmental processes, making it an integral part of people’s daily experience, a significant manifestation of people’s inherent natural rights.

An alarming reality is that war and conflict often wreak havoc on cultural heritage. Iconoclasm, or “image breaking,” is particularly devastating because it involves the deliberate destruction of another culture’s images, icons or monuments to demoralize that cultural group and establish political or religious superiority over it.

Looting is an age-old threat and continues to be a problem in the 21st century in all countries, but it is often exacerbated in developing nations by an enforcement vacuum resulting from war and conflict or when law enforcement is still weak or non-existent. Economic desperation, a common side effect of sanctions and war, can also lead to widespread looting as people seek any means to support their families.

Globalization, urbanization and climate change can threaten the cultural heritage and weaken cultural diversity.

With these introductory thoughts I would like to welcome our distinguished guests and members of this panel who will share with us their experience about religious freedom in Cyprus and the condition of cultural heritage.

Introductory note by Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia

moderating a panel on “Religion and Violence” in Tirana, Albania,

at an international meeting on Peace organized by the Community of Sant’ Egidio,

September 7, 2015.

First, allow me to congratulate the organizers of this meeting for bringing together religious leaders to let their voice sound an alarm about hatred and violent acts committed in the name of religion. This international meeting organized by the Community of Sant’ Egidio is a plausible element of the international initiative to promote peace and reconciliation in the world. For many consecutive years it gives religious and other leaders the opportunity to get to know each other and to express their collective support for peaceful, inclusive societies. It is a cause of great importance today to build bridges of understanding and cooperation among communities. It is the noble mission of religious leaders to encourage others to open their hearts to those of different backgrounds or beliefs and to commit themselves to safeguarding the rights of all religious communities, in particular minority communities. This meeting makes manifest the will of many to strive for dialogue, mutual respect and a life of dignity for all.  

I would like to underscore that it is a challenge for religious leaders to formulate their arguments around a firm will to encourage all to go beyond the notion of tolerance or simply acknowledging or abiding the existence of the other.  No one wants to be merely tolerated, as if there is something wrong with them. Tolerance must be more active and dynamic. It means reaching out to those who are different from us.  It means recognizing that we can teach by learning from one another.  We can gain by sharing with one another. By seeking to know more about others, we grow more ourselves. It is of urgent importance to convince as many as possible that by welcoming communities and ideas into our own, through exchange and enrichment, societies become greater than the sum of their parts.

At this point, let me refer to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s address to the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions which met in Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 10, 2015. That meeting had as a theme: “Promoting Dialogue for Peace and Prosperity in Turbulent Times”. On that occasion the UN Secretary General reiterated the affirmation that “crimes committed in the name of religion are crimes against religion”. He also remarked that “it is not religion that causes violence.  It is individuals who choose to espouse violence, wrongfully and cynically invoking faith in doing so”.

On this particular point, it is worth mentioning that almost a year ago Karen Armstrong published a book entitled “Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (Deckle Edge, October 28, 2014).The well-known scholar noted that the slaughter of the French revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the American civil war, the opium wars, the first world war, the Armenian genocide, Stalin's great purge, the second world war and the Holocaust had little to do with religion. Indeed, much of it was explicitly antireligious. So, she asks, how on earth have we ended up with the idea in, for example, the comments readers leave on news websites – that religion above all is to blame for human violence? In her bookKaren Armstrong sets out to discover the truth about religion and violence in each of the world’s great traditions, taking us on a journey from prehistoric times to the present.At a certain point in her bookArmstrong refers to the atrocities committed by the Islamic State. She acknowledges the fact that theology motivates its actions. That theology derives from the Qur'an. Surely, in a narrow sense, this is religious violence. However, Armstrong argues, it represents a grossly mutated version of a doctrine that survives in much of the world in its original form as a stabilizing, communitarian practice. She notes that environmental stress accelerates mutation in the natural world. The faith communities subjected to the most stress over the past two centuries are those of Middle Eastern and sub-continental Islam. Armstrong sets out in grim detail that its members have endured colonization, the expropriation of land, authoritarian rule and military occupation. However, none of these facts is to excuse the revolting acts of Islamic State fanatics. It is true that the tendency for attempts to explain and understand atrocious acts of violence cannot be taken as acts of apology. Such attempts would be deeply frustrating. But it is also important to abide by the facts taught by history. The urge to blame others is strong, and old. The first step towards extirpating evil is to acknowledge it. In this practice it is important to cultivate and preserve a spirit of sensitive understanding.

The global security landscape continues to shift dramatically. A diffused feeling of fear and insecurity seems to be growing. The scourge of violence in the name of religion calls for concerted action by Governments, religious communities, responsible individuals, civil society and the media.  Women and men, older or younger, often bear the brunt of violent ideologies. They are subject to systemic abuse, killing, rape and kidnapping.  We must ask and explore:  how can religious leaders inspire and build a stronger platform as a means of advancing respect for the human person, changing mindsets and shifting global consciousness? In times of turmoil, religious leaders can provide a values-based glue to hold communities together and provide common ground for peacemaking and problem solving. They can do so by fostering dialogue; by using spiritual authority to encourage individuals to act humanely; and by promoting shared values as reflected in the teachings of all world religions. Their noble mission is to teach their followers the true meaning of reconciliation, understanding and mutual respect. Religious leaders have an obligation to speak out when so-called adherents of their faith commit crimes in its name.

SPEAKING AND ACTING ON VALUES,

CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABILITY.

ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

AND PAPAL ENCYCLICAL.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, TUESDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2015

METROPOLITAN ATHANASIOS OF ACHAIA.

I thank the Bishop of Gand Luc Van Looy for his introduction to the Papal Encyclical “Laudato si”. My personal short intervention follows on behalf of the Conference of European Churches and the Conference of Orthodox Representatives to the European Union.

The publication of the Papal Encyclical three months ago was a significant moment in the process of articulating the social teaching of the Catholic Church denouncingthe slow but inescapable transformation of the earth into “an immense pile of filth”.The Encyclical followed and in a way resumed numerous publications aiming at awakening public environmental awareness by many Bishops’ Conferences and specialists. What is more exponents of many Churches have in different circumstances also expressed their concerns about climate change. The Papal Encyclical explicitly mentions the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I as a distinguished specialist on the environment who has insisted for many years on climate change that is intensifying on our planet each day as a result of human actions. The Pope has recently joined Patriarch Bartholomew in fixing September 1 each year as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Both leaders have affirmed that accumulated filth is not only material but mainly spiritual.

The Churches welcome every single effort to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. They join in every way possible the Institutions such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expressing hope that we still can limit global warming to an average of 2 degrees C before the end of the century and thus avert the worst consequences for us, for our children and future generations. It is worth mentioning here that the European Christian Environment Network in its Report after its 10th Assembly (29/09- 1/10/2014) stated: “Through the choices we make on energy, food and water we contribute to the environmental impact on others...There is moral obligation on developed countries to lower greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time lend support to the most affected”.

Everybody, governments formulating climate policies, Institutions groups of active citizens and individuals have an important role to play in the effort to tackle responsibly the problem of climate change and contribute in the process towards taking ambitious and just decisions.

We need to enforce Environmental Justice in order to enhance the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development and implementation of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. No matter how ambitious it may sound, enforcement of Environmental Justice will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards. Although governments may never agree on a definition of Environmental Justice, there is global agreement on protecting the basic human rights that make achieving Environmental Justice possible. Environmental Justice will be enforced when everyone has access to the decision-making process with the aim of securing a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work. Justice is viewed as unattainable without citizen participation in key decisions. Let me also add that the very meaning of Ecclesia is a calling for all to unite and lead their way to a concrete target with one heart and a common mind. This is the core message of the Papal Encyclical as a call to all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action” before it is too late.

Let me say at this point that we now know that steel works, blast furnaces, rolling and finishing mills, along with iron and steel foundries, are responsible for more than 57% of the total human health risks from industrial pollution. This means that if governments wanted to make major reformative legislation for Environmental Justice, they could easily do so by targeting these industries. Irresponsibility concerning protection of the environment is expected to stop when the elites themselves become aware that all humankind is affected by global warming and the survival of all mankind is at stake. Prof. Othmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research seems to address everybody, but especially profit mongers, when he says that “it doesn’t cost the earth to save the planet”. I believe that potential polluters and profligate consumers would not be able to treat vulnerable populations as expendable and would be forced to seek other alternatives to polluting activities and overconsumption, under certain conditions set by law.

Agencies are also required to identify an assessment methodology which can be used to determine whether human activities have disproportionately high and adverse environmental and health impacts.

Churches may encourage and bless initiatives like Alternatiba that is the idea of a framework to mobilize society in order to face the challenges of climate change. Numerous Alternatiba events, which provide hundreds of alternatives in order to raise people's awareness and to stimulate behavior change, have been or will be organized in over sixty different French and European cities in view of the upcoming meeting in Paris.

The European Parliament may decide to help financially the research centers which have brought to the fore the dire consequences awaiting humanity and our planet. The environmental movement has been successful in development of scientific solutions to environmental degradation. The results of such research should be widely defused in the effort to enhance public awareness and sensitivity. Nonetheless, on this point it is useful to mention a comment made by the Conference of European Churches in a letter addressed to President Herman Van Rompuy dated from October 6, 2014: “Although science and technology play a significant role in responding to climate change, relying on them alone will not be sufficient. Addressing ethical issues, educating and involving people are musts in climate programs”.

At this point I would like to underscore that as Christians we do not understand environmental education only as a moral issue in the sense of our responsibility to tackle the problem of climate change. We believe that we are part of the cosmos and Christ Himself became flesh and thus He became part of the creation, of the cosmos. Thus climate change acquires, beyond its moral dimension, a cosmic dimension too. It is about us being what we really are. To say it differently using science fiction imagery: we cannot be human beings if transformed in a sort of mechanical creatures programmed to survive in extreme climate conditions.

We need a coordinated plan for the media which can play a major role in raising the issue to its rightful level of importance. The media have already shown that they can inform, refine awareness of the problem and mobilize the public to proceed to courageous initiatives and undertake promising projects. They can positively contribute towards changing the public mindset leading to exaggerated consumerism. The Churches should cooperate with the media in a coordinated effort to unveil the spiritual, social and political gap entailed by ongoing irresponsible actions destroying little by little elements of our planet that are of vital importance.

The younger generation should also be informed either at school or in the frame of activities of environmental organizations to undertake its part of responsibility together with the older generation. We all need to cooperate in order to prepare a better and sustainable environment. Grassroots groups have demonstrated the success of empowering people and of the protection of civil liberties in environmental preservation. Following the Copenhagen Summit failure in 2009, we feel that it is time for European citizens to acknowledge that everything cannot be expected from political decisions at a higher level. We should start at the base, right where we live, with practical initiatives: eco-construction, short distribution chain, renewable energies, organic food, and local money… A list that should certainly not be restrictive in order to create a citizen dynamic, a change in environmental mentality.Joining forces gives impetus to the efforts to get environmental reforms implemented. All vulnerable members of society must have access to environmental information, exercise their rights of free speech, and have a role in determining their access to resources.

Let me finish by saying that the four musical notes by which Beethoven’s 5th Symphony begins sound as an alarm indicating, according to a widely known interpretation, the menacing role of fate. Those four notes could have become a mess in the head of an untalented composer of music instead of the masterpiece Beethoven has bequeathed to us. Let us hope that our responsibility for the protection of the environment will not be left to fate. Let us hope that so many alarming bells that are heard from the four points of horizon about climate change will end up in a symphony, in a comprehensive agreement, when political leaders meet in Paris from November 30 to December 11, 2015, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. We hope and we pray that all honest endeavors for the protection of the environment and climate change will not produce a disarray of confusing irresponsible voices manifesting a well-known undesirable menu of conflicting interests.

Every year representatives of Orthodox Churches to the European Institutions have agreed to meet in a different place within the jurisdiction of their respective Churches. After their first meeting in Bucharest, in May 2014, they met in Athens from 1- 3 May 2015. At the end of their meeting they issued a Communiqué which follows hereafter.

Athens, 3 May 2015COMMUNIQUÉ

From 1-3 May 2015 the Committee of Representatives of Orthodox Churches to the European Union (CROCEU) held its annual meeting in Athens, in the Inter-Orthodox Center of Penteli, at the kind invitation of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. The previous annual meeting of CROCEU was held in Bucharest in May 2014. The main topic of this year's meeting was "The role of the Church at a time of crisis". The representatives shared their views regarding this topic.Those present at the meeting were: H.E. Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium and the V. Rev. Archimandrite Aimilianos Bogiannou (Ecumenical Patriarchate), the V. Rev. Archimandrite Filaret Bulekov and the Archpriest Dimitry Sizonenko (Moscow Patriarchate), H.E. Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște and the V. Rev. Prof. Dr. Sorin Selaru (Patriarchate of Romania), His Grace Bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis and Deacon Fr. Nektarios Ioannou (Church of Cyprus) and H.E. Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia (Church of Greece). H.E. Metropolitan Antony of Central Europe (Patriarchate of Bulgaria) apologized for not being able to participate to the meeting.First, H.E. Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia presented the program of support that the Church of Greece has developed to face the challenges presented to the Greek society during this period of crisis. He mentioned that the Church of Greece has spent 122 millions euros in 2013 and 121 millions euros in 2014. In addition to that he referred to the serious problem of migration and the pressure exercised particularly in the area of the Aegean Sea.Next, H.G. Bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis spoke about the role of the Church of Cyprus during this period of crisis. He stressed that "...the financial assistance provided by the Church of Cyprus to people in need, totaled 10.800.000 euros in 2012 and 2013.... Despite darkness and suffering due to the crisis, the Church of Cyprus tries to convey to people in need a message of hope and optimism. The crisis can also become an opportunity for self-criticism putting repentance at the center of our lives..."During the second session of the meeting H.E. Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște presented a paper about the crisis of Religious Education with special reference to the Romanian experience. He stressed: "...Religious education in state schools is an expression of unity in diversity deeply rooted in culture, history and spirituality of every European nation. The crisis of religious experience as a consequence of secularization, globalization, individualism, relativization of Christian values, maximization of economic values and cultural and religious pluralism present us with common challenges eveywhere in Europe. In this context, the people of Romania are confronted with particular challenges related to religious education in state schools...."The representative of the Moscow Patriarchate V. Rev. Archimandrite Filaret Bulekov spoke about the current crisis of Christians in Middle East Countries. He underscored: "...Christians are becoming hostages to a big political game of geostrategic re-division of the Middle East and Africa. Certain countries have invested much money in the destabilization in countries of these regions....In August 2013 the Russian Church transferred over 1.3 million dollars to the Patriarchate of Antioch...." In addition, the speaker mentioned the efforts made towards informing religious and political leaders and the wider public about the current situation.H.E. Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium presented a paper about the current situation in the world. He spoke about spiritual and moral crisis. "...More than ever, people are in need to give meaning to their lives. One notices that secularization, globalization and the spiritual impoverishment are all involved in a series of serious problems, which have led to the crisis in which the current world has been led. (...) The Orthodox Church could propose new initiatives so as to develop a new way of treating people and goods, which take more into account intrinsic values. (...) The quest for happiness requires the involvement of a spiritual life. The person who leads a spiritual life is not someone who would have great ideas, but rather one who participates in the grace of the Holy Spirit and the divine life. What is offered in the Orthodox Liturgy is a life that presents itself as witness and as hope. We are called to celebrate the Eucharist, in which we offer the world to God..."The participants analyzed the activities of the representations during the past years and discussed various ways of more efficient cooperation between them, in a spirit of unity and in order to make their voice heard by European Institutions. They had an extensive dialogue concerning the future activities of the CROCEU, expressing the wish to organize meetings on various topics, (e.d. the importance of religious education at school).The participants visited the premises of the Seminary of the Apostoliki Diakonia in Aigaleo. There was also a warm reception of CROCEU members at the monastery of Daou Penteli.The program culminated on Sunday, 3 May 2015, with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the parish of the Dormition of the Mother of God, in Ilioupolis.The next annual meeting of CROCEU will take place in Cyprus in 2016 at the kind invitation of His Beatitude Archbishop of Nova Justiniana and all Cyprus Chrysostomos II.