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It's my understanding that the "church" inc the Greek Orthodox is very rich in financial terms , how does this sit with religious practice & it is my view that all religion should be run on a " not for profit" basis and all money gained given back to the needy ( after costs deducted ) why is there so much outward riches shown by those in control?
Answer to Question 40.
When you say “the church including the Greek Orthodox do you mean the by church the Vatican. The Vatican is indeed very wealthy but has nothing to do with the Orthodox Church. Also each Orthodox Church is independent, we do not have a central government like the Roman Catholic Church. Greece is independent, Cyprus is independent, Russia is independent etc. If the church of Greece has a lot of money it belongs to the people of Greece and the Church of Cyprus cannot lay a claim to it. This also applies on a smaller scale. Each Metropolis area in a country is financially independent even from the Archdiocese itself. In other words if the Archdiocese in Nicosia is wealthy, the Metropolis of Limassol cannot claim any of that wealth. And even on a smaller scale, if a certain parish is wealthy, a poor parish within the same diocese cannot claim anything from the wealthy parish. So we cannot say that in general the church is very rich. Some like the Archdiocese and the Monastery of Kykkos are, but there are churches like Limassol that have no extra money. I cannot speak for all the churches, but the Metropolis of Limassol has no business ventures and does not run on a profit basis and ALL the money is given back to the poor. If some of her churches look rich in decoration, these are things paid for from money gifts that were donated by certain people as a votive or a memorial for loved ones that have departed. |
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