The Greek Orthodox Church and the economic crisis since 2009

Abstract

In the midst of the raging socio-economic crisis that has hit Greece since 2009 the Greek Orthodox Church, under Archbishop Ieronymos II, has admirably developed its network of philanthropic work and charity meals. Open to both Greeks and immigrants, this project seems to realise Eastern Orthodox Christianity's sense of caritas and civic duty. Low key and efficient, the Orthodox Church's response to the crisis has left behind the nationalistic cries and pietistic/didactic excesses of the recent past. This article asserts, however, that, by failing to grapple with the structural causes of the crisis in a politically relevant manner and by refusing to castigate specific policies and politicians at the national and European Union level, the Greek Orthodox Church has offered a much needed palliative, but in the end has remained discursively distant from theological and political criticism of a rapacious neoliberal system and from effective engagement with Greek modernity.