THE CROSSROADS A letter to the people

• Encyclical of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece

"The leaders of the Church of Greece, which met on an ordinary session, feels the need to address its Christian followers, the people of God, as well as any well intentioned man, to speak using the language of truth and love.

The days we are living nowadays are difficult and critical. Greece as a country is going through a terrible economic crisis which creates uncertainty and fear for many. We do not know what awaits us tomorrow. It seems our country is no longer free, but is ruled by our creditors instead. We know that many of you expect the Church that shepherds you to speak and to make a stand on the events that we are witnessing.

It is true that what is happening in our homeland is unusual and staggering. The spiritual, social and economic crisis goes hand in hand with the destruction of the natural order. We are talking about the attempt to uproot and destroy the foundation of many traditions which until recently were being considered as being to the lifestyle valid in our territory.

From a social point of view, everything is being turned upside down, using of course the obvious excuse: these measures are being demanded by our creditors.

That is why we say that we are a country under occupation and that we are carrying out the orders of our leaders-debtors. The question which arises is whether their requests concern only economic matters or whether they also concern the spiritual and cultural shape of our country.

Faced with a situation like this, any rational man would ask themselves why were these drastic measures, which today are deemed necessary, not taken earlier. Why did we not change in due time these diseases of the society and of the economy which we are attempting to fix today in a brutal manner?

The same politicians have been in power in our country for decades. How exactly did they go about determining the political cost, knowing full well that they were driving the country to catastrophe, whereas today they feel safe, because they are acting from the position of rulers? Radical shifts are taking place, which in different times would have caused Greece to revolt, and nowadays they are being enforced without almost any opposition.

Our economic crisis, put in very simple words, comes from the difference between what we produce and what we consume.

More specifically, between the low pace of output that we are able to achieve and the high level of welfare that we have become used to. When consumption exceeds production, then the economic balance shifts towards expenditure.

In order to be able to deal with it, our country is forced to borrow in the hope that the disturbed balance will be restored. When this doesn't happen and the debtors are requesting that the loans be repaid with interest, it all ends in crisis and bankruptcy.

But the economic crisis which has been tormenting and ruling our country is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. It is the result of another type of crisis, a spiritual one. The disproportion between production and consumption is not just an economic factor, but it is first of all it is a spiritual factor. It is the proof of the spiritual crisis, which affects the leaders of the country, as well as the people itself.

Leaders who were unable to have a responsible attitude towards their people, who could not or would not speak the truth, who promoted the wrong role models, who cultivated cronyism, because their only purpose was to preserve their power. Leaders which it is now proven that they have undermined the true interests of the country and of the people.

And, on the other hand, we have a people, that's us, who have been acting irresponsibly. We allowed ourselves to be fooled by wealth, easy money and good living, we have indulged in making easy money and deception. We never questioned the truth of what we do.

The arbitrary claiming of rights by guilds and various social groups, with a complete disregard towards social cohesion, has greatly contributed to today's situation.

The essence of the spiritual crisis is the absence of the meaning of life and the incarceration of man in the rectilinear present, meaning in his selfish instinct. A present without future, without any prospects. A present sentenced to boredom and monotony.

Life has become a period of time of unknown duration, elapsed between two dates, that of birth and that of the burial.

Given such a perspective, emptiness starts to rival the irrational and the outcome is always tragic. When you talk to a young man and you ask him: "Why do you do drugs, son?" and he tells you: "You tell me why I shouldn't? I don't hope for anything, I do not expect anything, my only joy is when I stick in the needle and I travel to other worlds"; and when you warn a young man that if he takes drugs he will die, he will reply with a tragic smile: "Don't you understand that I do drugs to live", then you can understand how incredibly true and adequate the words above are.

Instead of any other life purpose, we have pursued wealth, the good life, the economic power. But when there is no other thing to look forward to aside from consumption, when economic power and its ostentatious display becomes the only way to achieve social recognition, then being different becomes the only way of life, because otherwise, if you are not immoral, you are a fool.

This is the way that guided the thoughts and acts of many, this is how we came to the differences in power and position within the ranks of our people. We are now living Dostoyevsky's question - the "freedom or happiness?" dilemma - in all its tragedy. We have chosen counterfeit welfare and we have lost our individual freedom, we have lost the freedom of our country.

Today, people are understandably quaking in fear, "won't my income decrease?", but aren't worried about the deficiencies of education which concern his children nor worried over the degradation of their fellow humans.

This is thus the essence of the real crisis and the source of the economic crisis which is so mercilessly exploited by the current "merchants of nations".

Within the Synod of the Hierarchy, we, your spiritual parents, have made a mea culpa, we have expressed our desire to face our responsibilities and to research our part in the present crisis. We are aware that we have sometimes made you sad, and sometimes contributed to driving you down the wrong path. We did not react openly and at the right time towards behaviors which have harmed you.

The peddlers of the destruction of the relationship between the people and the Church which drives it have exploited enough and in a very pragmatic fashion the manufactured scandals and have tried to unravel your trust in the Church.

We want to remind you that the Church has the remedy to consumption as a way of life, and that is asceticism. And if consumption is the end, because it is a meaningless life, asceticism is the way, because it leads to a meaningful life. Asceticism does not mean deprivation of pleasure, but rather enriching life with purpose. It is the athlete's training which leads him to compete and to win the medal, and that medal is the life which defeats death, life which gets enriched with love. Asceticism is the road to freedom, against the slavery of the pointlessness which is debasing us today.

We are worried about the state of our education, because the current educational system does not treat students as individuals, but rather like computers, and the only thing it does is "load" them with information, disregarding their entire personality, and that is why our children naturally are acting out against it.

That is why we are concerned about the project of the New High School which is being prepared. The government does indeed bear the responsibility for the manuals being written, but their contents concerns every last one of the Greek citizens, who expect the Church to make their reasonable voice heard as well.

We understand that all our parishes must become hospitable areas for our youth, as many of them already are, where many youngsters find a haven in their search for meaning and hope.

We know that you expect from us, your shepherds, a heroic Church, one that has vigor, that can make prophetic speeches, that can speak to the youth of today, not a secularized Church, but one that is holy and sanctifies everything around it, a free church that can be strong in its shepherding. A church that is not afraid to make a stand against the crooked system of the world, regardless of whether this opposition would lead to harassment and martyrdom.

The Church is the only body that can stand by the side of man and help him directly. However, all of us are part of the Church and this is our power and its power.

It is this union between the shepherds and the people which the merchants of nations are looking to undermine. They know that if the shepherd is gone, the sheep will easily become obedient. History teaches us that where God was persecuted, the end goal was the humiliation of man. The acknowledgement of the embodiment of God is the greatest achievement of humanity.

The Church does not oppose government, but those who would exploit the government and hide behind power to deprive you of hope.

Remember that for many experts in economics, the current crisis is manufactured, it is a crisis which is aimed at helping powers which have no love for the people gain global control.

The Church of Christ has something to say on the current situation, because it has never stopped being part of the world and of its history. It can not allow any kind of injustice, but it has a duty to show a willingness for confession and martyrdom.

We know that people next to us are starving, are poor, are grasping at straws from an economic point of view, and many times despondency rules their hearts. We are aware of this, because their first stop in their search for hope is the Church in their area, their parish. Our goal and our struggle is for each parish to become the center from where the pastoral activity of the local church will embrace the entire local society in question.

Our decision is to become a watcher of the social issues with the goal of closely watching and methodically preventing the issues which the current crisis creates.

Our goal is to develop the social aid works of every parish, so that there would be no one left without a food on their plate. You all know that in this respect the Church constantly conducts a huge effort. You are aware of this, because many of you voluntarily support this effort of your parish and help it financially. We call upon you to keep very close to your parish, so we can face together these very difficult times.

Our people have suffered poverty and hunger before, but they have endured and won, because at the time they had something to look forward to. We can all help one of us, and one of us can help all of us. God gave us our spirit, not to feel fear, but to have power and to feel love. With that spirit you should gather around our great family, the Church, revealing our flaws, looking for the meaning of life in love, and we will outlast these difficult times".

THE SYNOD OF THE GREEK CHURCH