Orthodox Church of Greece
ORTHODOX CHURCH OF GREECE
The Orthodox Church in Greece considered itself liberated from the yoke of the Turks only when it had obtained both its political freedom and its status as an autocephalous church. The patriarchate of Constantinople recognized it as an autocephalous church in 1850. Today it forms the only Orthodox church that is officially the accepted church of the nation. A synodal type of ecclesiastical administration was accepted. The Permanent Synod comprises 13 bishops, including the leader of the Greek Church, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece.
See Also: greece, the church in, 2. the modern church; orthodox and oriental churches.
Bibliography: d. constantelos, Understanding the Greek Orthodox Church: Its Faith, History and Practice (New York 1982). f. litsas, ed. A Companion to the Greek Orthodox Church (New York 1984). r. roberson, The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey, 6th ed (Rome 1999).
[g. a. maloney/eds.]