Religious Leadership of a Majority Church

Abstract

"A religious leadership can take place in two aspects of life : (a) in spiritual; and (b) in non-spiritual matters (secular), the latter being in relation with the State, administrative matters within the church, and so on. Inevitably they are both on a parallel road, but as in mathematics where parallel lines intersect in infinity, by the same token spiritual matters and non-spiritual matters need to be seen as connected [...]. Due to the diversity of societies and variety of beliefs, I believe that there is no one single model of responsible religious leadership applicable to all. Rather, what is ideally beneficial is an exchange of information, an analysis of the existing benchmarks and lastly, a mutual understanding. Therefore, I have decided to approach the subject of the ethical criteria of religious leadership from a specific perspective; that of my denomination, i.e. from the Greek Orthodox perspective, making special reference to the situation I live in (Greece), a case of a majority church, where approximately 97% of 10.2 million inhabitants are Orthodox Christians. My paper is divided into three parts. In the first part I briefly sketch a picture of the structure of the Orthodox Church, with due reference to the synodical system of the Greek Orthodox Church. In the second part I concentrate on three issues: the relation between the Church and its liturgical life and religious leadership ; the relation between religious leadership with the State and politics; and the relation between religious leadership and society. The third part focuses on interreligious and ecumenical relations, which ought to be primary concerns of any religious leader in a pluralistic society.", p. 129-130 (Introduction)