Archbishop vows to end corruption
The head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos, said yesterday that he was focused on ridding the institution of any corruption, after repeated allegations that he was closely linked to a priest at the center of the current trial-fixing scandal. «I have one and only one task at the moment. The eradication of corruption from within the Church has to go ahead, without compromise,» said Christodoulos in a hastily convened and very brief press conference. Further to a press release he released on Monday night denying any close association with Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis, Christodoulos read out a six-line statement yesterday which failed to address the numerous allegations of corruption within the Church that have sprouted up over the past three weeks. However, the archbishop’s comments found an unlikely ally in Bishop Ieronimos of Thebes, who said he would stand by Christodoulos if he engages in a cleanup of the Church that is not just superficial. Ieronimos has accused Christodoulos of using Yiossakis to blackmail him so that he would not stand against the archbishop in elections seven years ago. Christodoulos denied the claims in his statement on Monday but made no reference to them yesterday.
