CHURCH AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE.

CHURCH  AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE.

The “stone fight” between the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Church consists a ritual that does not benefit neither part.

Article  written by Tasos Michalas.

On Tuesday 10/09 the Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and the new General Secretary of the K.K.E Dimitris Koutsoumbas, met at the Archdiocese. The meeting was both important and instructive, since a General Secretary of the K.K.E party met officially with the Archbishop of Athens.

The historian of the future will be asked to interpret the facts of the visit. It seems, however, that the Communist Party and the Greek Church are forced, due to circumstances to shake hands leaving the hard stone fight as they discover that they don’t experience the happiest period in their history and worry about what will follow. Those of the Church and the Leftists who show self-awareness, attest that the two Bodies are suffering from stagnation. They remained hostages of the past, committed to the data of the 1950s, when the churches were "crowded" and leftists were admired for their courage and heroism. Today, the characteristics of the people of the Church and the K.K.E seem to be outdated. Their voice has no dynamism. Their arguments, their sermons, their slogans, their positions, are parts of an era from which we are far away. That is a bitter observation, but a true one: for many Greeks, the Church and K.K.E constitute archaeological remains, which contain historical symbolism. Nevertheless, they do not offer prospects for creative intervention in the relatively advanced European environment we live in. So often the representatives of these two Bodies feel as outcasts. They watch everything moving in an unimaginable speed and development and the train of development leaves without them.

The Church and the K.K.E were not stillborn organizations but they became afterwards, as they had left domestic issues which required immediate solutions, unresolved. For example the issue of the inside well considered modernization, which every serious organization needs in order to have duration and not temporary or transitory presence. What is really strange, though, is that, while these two Bodies often give the impression of being bankrupt (on organizational, communicative, administrative level and so on), ended up believing that are the healthiest parts of society. They are convinced of living under the constellation of truth and virtue, of being the "salt of the Earth", the fine dough which is required to be used exclusively in the production of the social bread. This unusual assumption filled with theological-political arrogance several Church and Leftist members considering, those who lie outside their own fine pen, responsible for all the evils, but not themselves, in any case.

The stagnation in the Church and K.K.E did not happen all of a sudden. The pure Greek Orthodox and Socialist air was not contaminated overnight, but gradually. This development was a correlation of many shortcomings. Quite often hypocrisy and falsehood were placed over the truth. The Values had been demoted while self interest gained ground as a full value. Although the clergy ought to be the people’s deacons, they became a privileged class, civil servants often prone to exert spiritual power to people. The pulpit escaped from his mission, on several occasions: it was theory, not an experience! Instead of exalting God’s splendors instructing people, it sometimes functioned as the original source of attitudes leading to social divisions and suspicion. It indicated that the Church of Christ is under the supervision and guidance of people, who are not Saints or Holy persons or angelic like, but the only thing they  have to demonstrate is the intense wordly and agonizing effort for conquest of power.

Similarly, the K.K.E from a  pure bred,  friendly oriented  political formation , as it was supposed to be, ended up to  a graceless, dogmatic, closed system, not always serving  national or Socialist interests. On the contrary , it followed blindly as often as it wished ,  the suggestions of Political  dinosaurs who were anxious for their own power, not for the welfare of the world or  socialism’s fruitfulness. Besides, K.K.E never succeeded in seeing or assessing the unseen side of the Church, which is not of this world, but has direct reference to its founder, Jesus Christ, for whose personality many Leftists feel deep respect despite their antipathy towards the clergy.

The fact that the Church and K.K.E were unable to transform in the receivers of modern concerns -despite their differences--to develop the possibility of "cooperation" , is due to the fact that at times were  flanked by people of controversial ability, genuineness, honesty, quality and honesty. Their views were absolute, harsh and poor, so they brought both parts decades back. Also, some extreme reckless zeal , was exhibited by people ,that thrive in both those places, fuels every approach of benevolent thought,   resulting in constantly smoldering  an undeclared war between the two of these  "sacred monsters".

K.K.E held a strong antichurch stance for decades following the hard-line,  of  the authoritarian Moscow. In socialist countries – satellites of Moscow, Christians literally suffered, had tortures and were  shut in concentration camps. They lived in terror and rejection, lost their lives, simply because they were members of the Church and in ... Christian  Greece ,  Church men  never uttered a good word for the anxieties and struggles of honest Leftists, who were imprisoned, martyred and many of whom died in exile.

I asked the German Catholic priest, Albert Rapp, chaplain and good theologian, in Heidelberg   why the Communist parties and churches share  the same hatred. Here’s what he  replied: "That’s bad, since among these two Bodies there are common elements that should unite them. Both are devoid of self-criticism, they are dogmatic, absolute in their beliefs! So, they speak about freedom, while not leaving any room for free dialogue to grow their free spaces, their opposite views  and democratic procedures. Since, the churches and the Communist parties have so many in common, then why do they quarrel? "

Many mistakes were made in the past both from K.K.E and the Church, too. And at this present phase, these two bodies are  unfortunately still continuing,  to make unacceptable mistakes. The biggest of which,  is that they haven’t believed in the need for reformations in their context, so they stayed still, tied with the past. The Church and K.K.E are not adjusted to the new reality that whatever does not grow, is considered insolvent, insufficient to play a positive role in people's lives. (It is no coincidence that Greek women rarely accept to connect with prospective clergymen?)

Nowadays, the Byzantine splendor of the Greek Church has suffered severe contraction and K.K.E   comes out to seek for fans. These two Bodies should realize that the "stone- fight between them" is a ritual that bears no fruit– despite all their so-called differences-they can multiply the chances of their "cooperation". No wonder, in our constantly and rapidly changing times, when there is a lack of a one-Party government.  The creation of Political Alliances is a serious issue not only in the fields of politics, diplomacy or the economy, but also in the field of the Church. ..! In the context of this need, the Archbishop’s meeting with  the General Secretary of  K.K.E can only be interpreted as a gesture of maturity and optimism.

* Tassos Michalas is a journalist, Magister of the Journalism Faculty at the University of Berlin.