461

St Vladimirs Teological Quarterly 57:3-4 (2013) 461478

Signs of National Socialism in the Greek
Church?
Athanasios N. Papathanasiou
Te stage began to be set from the moment Greece agreed to the
terms of the fnancial bailout from the international community,
i.e., from the spring of 2010. It was not created in a vacuum, but
rather had its own characteristics, which developed with dizzying
speed. Especially since the beginning of 2011when the efects
of the economic crisis began to be felt more acutely, the extent of
political corruption became more widely known, and the protests
of the so-called indignant swelledwe also witnessed a surge in
ecclesiastical rhetoric which, if we look closely, seems to consist of
a paradoxical combination of sharp criticism of the political system
along with expressions of intolerance: lament, for example, for the
decline of democracy, while simultaneously waxing nostalgic about
the leaders of the Junta (19671974). Watching this unfold, I could
not help but sense that the lingering tendency in some religious
circles toward authoritarianism and totalitarianism had, in some
cases, assumed features peculiar to National Socialism.
1
Tings began to deteriorate in an alarming way in the summer
of 2012, when the Golden Dawn party, with a documented
1 Since this began, I have detailed my growing concerns (i.e., that we are dealing with a
social radicalism accompanied by covert intolerance for democracy itself ) in various
publications. See my Foreword, Synaxi 120 (2011): 34 [in Greek]; book review of
the collective volume On an Economy with a Human Face (Athens: Youth Of ce and
Foundation of the Archdiocese of Athens, 2011), in Synaxi 121 (2012): 10104 [in
Greek]; An Age of Spiritual and Material Bankruptcy in Europe? A Valuable Op-
portunity for Meaning to Emerge, Manifesto 35 (2012): 3236 [in Greek]; among
others. I intended to present my fndings at the international conference Ecclesi-
ology and Nationalism held by the Volos Academy for Teological Studies of the
Metropolis of Demetrias, May 2427, 2012, and other Orthodox theological insti-
tutions, but various exigencies of life prevented me from participating. Te present
text represents my belated contribution to that conference, and was frst published in
Greek in the journal Synaxi 125 (2013): 2337.
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462 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
history of neo-Nazism,
2
entered parliament afer the May 6th and
June 17th general elections. Did it really come as a surprise, then,
that some ecclesiastical fgures expressed their enthusiasm for this
partys success? Or was it simply that some ecclesiastical circles
latent inclination toward National Socialism, which began to swell
in 2011, fnally boiled over? Personally, I think it is the latter.
From a theological point of view, the whole issue has enormous
spiritual signifcance. Tis is not a partisan or narrowly political
controversy. It concerns, rather, the dilemma between fdelity to the
gospel of Christ and apostasy.
3
In this context, there are two critical
questions (which may be regarded as two aspects of the same issue):
frst of all, what is it that makes it possible for religious circles to
tolerate or even welcome Nazi or neo-Nazi ideas, and secondly, what
is it that makes some Christians adopt essentially national socialist
views while fervently rejecting, at the same time, Nazi paganism?
We must, then, examine the religious landscape to discover what
had taken root there which would now lead to the abomination of
desolation in the holy place.
Normally, it would require no more than two minutes for
someone to see that Christianity and National Socialism are
completely incompatible. Te cornerstones of the Churchsuch as
the new commandment to love, and the recognition of all people as
brothers and sistersrender any merger between Christianity and
National Socialism clearly impossible. And herein lies the problem:
the blurring, in the rhetoric of the ecclesiastical fgures who are
2 See Dimitris Psaras, Golden Dawns Black Book: Documents fom the History and
Activities of a Nazi Group (Athens: Polis, 2012) [in Greek].
3 Since the summer of 2012, there have been an abundance of substantive theologi-
cal articles condemning neo-Nazism and its supposedly ecclesiastical supporters,
whichI believeshould be catalogued as a testimony to our times. See, for in-
stance, Tanasis [Athanasios] N. Papathanasiou, Friends of the Lef: Dont Stick
Your Heads in the Sand, Te Way of the Lef, 22 October 2012, p. 22 [in Greek].
In the Christian anti-Nazi works I referenced in that article, I did not have time to
include the recent thoughts by Vasilis Argyriadis, which are particularly insightful:
From the Right Hand of the Lord to the Far Right of the Devil! (13 October
2012, http://www.pheme.gr/node/5571), and Metropolitans Walking the Tight-
rope (18 October 2012, http://www.pheme.gr/node/5639) [both in Greek].
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 463
firting with National Socialism, of the Gospel commandments on
the one hand (since none of them can openly preach against love
or seek to remove the parable of the Good Samaritan), and views
consistent with National Socialism on the other. Similarly, hatred of
the non-Orthodox and the desire for God to smite them (so much
for the incident in which the disciples asked Christ to smite the
Samaritans, and he rebuked them!) can ofen be witnessed today
coming from pastors who, at the same time, run soup kitchens that
welcome everyone, including foreigners! As is always the case when
things combine, what is needed is for the intelligent believer to
distinguish that which is central and that which is peripheral, that
which is essential and that which is merely a faade. In this particular
muddying mixture, the Gospel commandments are still preached
in word, but in practice they are nullifed, since they are not made
the priority. Te priority is instead given to the anti-Christian
elements, which are then highlighted as evidence of true, militant
Christianity!
Considering what is expected of a pastor, a priest who firts with
Nazism should be relieved of the burden of the Gospel: either the
priest himself should withdraw from the Church, or the Church
should recognize that he no longer constitutes one of its members.
But what about the people in general who vote for the Nazi party?
Te truth is that the majority of them are not themselves Nazis but
are, rather, simply disgusted with the fetid political system. But
whatever the motives, the fact that the demonic has managed to
penetrate the Christian consciousness (evinced even by seemingly
innocent comments such as I didnt vote for them, but good for
them) is a very serious problem. We need to see just how far the
ecclesiastical criteria have eroded.
Te existence of overt as well as latent elements of National
Socialism is not unique to Greece. At the European level, National
Socialism is openly preached only by fringe groups. Te issue,
however, is to what extent various ideas of National Socialist favor
or origin have taken root in other political groups which, in order
to enter the political mainstream and join Parliament, have declared
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464 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
themselves democratic, and now only vaguely discuss their hardline
positions. Tese groups belong to the far right, the exact current
identity of which has been the subject of countless academic
studies. A more apt defnition of the parliamentary far right is
probably as a populist radical right. Te populist radical right is
not identical with National Socialism, and, in fact, several parts of
it difer considerably. Tere is, however, a great deal of overlap and
cross-fertilization, which should not be ignored. In a fascinating
study, researchers have found that the populist radical right has
enjoyed particular success in countries which of cially collaborated
with Nazi Germany during World War II (which, however, is not
the case in Greece). Although these populist movements do not
defne themselves as descendants from the historical Nazi parties,
there is, nevertheless, a certain Nazi infuence, which ofen creates
confusion and doubts about their identities.
4
I will now attempt, therefore, to examine the points at which
elements of National Socialism come into contact with the illnesses
in the religious sphere. Te reader will have already noticed that
4 See Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007), 24446. See the discussion among experts about whether
these should be considered fascist, neo-fascist, etc.: Andrei Zaslove, Te Populist
Radical Right: Ideology, Party Families, and Basic Principles of their Ideology,
Political Studies Review 7: 3 (2009): 307. Mudde himself (op cit, 413), considers
them radical, but not extreme, to the extent that they are not unconstitutional. Ig-
nazi argues that the traditional neo-fascist parties have been replaced by a new kind
of far right party which, while unconnected with fascist ideology, is nevertheless con-
trary to the fundamental values of the democratic system. See Piero Ignazi, Extreme
Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). See also
Shadows Over Europe: Te Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in West-
ern Europe (eds. Martin Schain, Aristide Zolberg, & Patrick Hossay) (New York:
Palgrave MacMillan, 2002), 6181, and Hans-Georg Betz, Te Growing Treat of
the Radical Right, in Right-Wing Extremism in the Twenty-First Century (eds. Peter
H. Merkl, Leonard Weinberg) (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 7493. Here in Greece,
it is worth noting that Golden Dawn has moved from using the term National So-
cialist to the term Nationalist. Te General Secretary of the party wrote: Let no
one be mistakenthere is no hint of apology in this. We do not take back a single
word of what we have written and argued. It is simply that we now consider this
the most appropriate term. N. G. Michaloliakos, Enemies of the Status Quo: Golden
Dawn 19931998 (Ashkelon, 2000), 70, cited in Psaras, op cit, 251.
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 465
I do not use the term Nazism so much as the term National
Socialism, not because there is an essential diference between
them, but rather because National Socialism better conveys the
connection between idolization of the nation and social radicalism.
A Radical Critique, But Against What?
At many times in our modern history, the institutional side of the
Church, with some exceptions, has been partners with the major
economic interests and their political exponents. On this stage, most
church leaders abstained from any social critique, which was seen as
the purview of communists and their sympathizers. Te belief
in blessed wealth came to be identifed with the traditional right,
which maintained that its core values were conservatism, family,
and care for the nation. Tis model, of course, has not disappeared,
but beside it has emerged another, which was bred by two factors:
frst, afer the dictatorship (1974), the ruling right began to move
toward modernization and sometimes expressed unease with the
close relationship between church and state. Secondly, the political
fgures most in favor of modernization supported the conditions
of the countrys international fnancial bailout. Te ecclesiastical
attitude in this new model (which appears to be a minority, but is
rapidly gaining momentum) features a populist leader (bishop or
presbyter, as the case may be) who now talks about the rights of
the poor and denounces the plutocrats and the powerful who are
endangering the country. In and of itself, this could be hailed as a
signifcant resurgence of the critical, prophetic role of the Church.
And indeed it is, in some cases, when the criterion for such an
attitude is the universal altruism of the Gospel. In the cases, however,
of those who firt with National Socialism, this rhetoric is merely a
convenient faade, which quickly gives way to other criteria.
Te churchman
5
with National Socialistic tendencies speaks
5 In this text, I use the terms churchman, Christian, etc, in connection with fgures
associated with National Socialist tendencies only as a matter of convention, in order
to show that these fgures are operating in the ecclesiastical milieu. I certainly do not
mean to imply that there is any compatibility between the Christian and National
Socialist identities.
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466 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
mainly about the current crisis afecting the country and its
indigenous people. And when he comes around to criticizing the
banking system, his main argument is that the bankers are tools of
international Zionism. His wrath, in other words, is not directed
toward Mammon, the national or cultural identity of which, it
should be noted, are of no interest to the Gospels. Rather, it appears
as anti-systemic rage against the national elite, who led the country
to the brink. Of course, the elite deserve to be sharply criticized, but
to settle for simply shouting is nothing more than populism. To be
of any substance, the criticism must be accompanied by refection
on the question: To what end are we protesting? What do we want
to see happen? See, for example, this statement:
We are fghting against the corruption of a parliamentary
system that doles out seats based on party statistics, without
regard to character or ability.
And, indeed, who would disagree? Te question, however, is what
conclusion is drawn from this: whether, in other words, corruption
harms democracy or, on the contrary, is intrinsic to democracy
itself ! Tis excerpt is from the sixth article of the platform and
Catechism of Hitlers National Socialist party (February 25,
1920),
6
which patiently participated in the parliamentary system
until it was able to subvert it.
Some criticize liberal democracy as a poor substitute for
authentic democracy, i.e., for mans more substantive participation
in the organization of public life. Tese critics include those who
see representative democracy as an oligarchy and therefore seek
methods for more direct democracy, as well as those who decry
party bureaucracy, not because they dream of a dictatorship, but
because they enjoy pluralism and desire a heightened sense of
personal responsibility and participation.
7
Of a completely diferent
6 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 865 in the Greek translation by Leonidas Proestidis
(Athens: Kaktos, 2006).
7 See, e.g., George Economou, From the Crisis of Parliamentarianism to Democracy
(Athens: Papazisi, 2009) [in Greek]; Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political
Parties (with commentary by Andre Breton and an addendum by the philosopher
Alain), Greek translation by Sotiris Gounelas (Athens: Armos, 2011; Democracy
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 467
sort are the critics who secretly desire to replace the parliament with
a dictatorship. In this scenario, Christians must not seek to identify
the Gospel with a political system. Neither, however, should they
look for a middle ground between freedom and limitation, between
justice and injustice, between aggressors and victims. Christians
must base their attitudes and actions on the Gospels criteria. What
we fnd today, however, is that in many Church circles there is no
desire for the frst of these two kinds of critique. On the contrary,
these circles seem to delight in the mess that our political system
has become, which only confrms, in their minds, their belief that
democracy is inherently fawed. Tey ofen invoke the name of
democracy in their texts, but usually out of self-defense, i.e., when
they want to defend one of their own interests. Beyond that, they
have no real interest in democracy itself or its implementation. It is
simply a concept of convenience, and that is why they demonstrate
no concern when othersbesides themselves and those of their
ideological circlefall into illiberal, undemocratic situations. But
if freedom constitutes Gods mark on human life, and the burden
which God has placed on mans shoulders, then the violation of any
human beings freedomwhether of the same faith or a diferent
faith, whether of the same race or a diferent raceis nothing less
than blasphemy against God. It is, therefore, no mere accident
that we hear no cries of protest in such cases from those in these
particular ecclesiastical circles.
Under Construction: From the Streets to the Squares (eds. Christos Giovanopoulos
and Dimitris Mitropoulos) (Athens: Asynexeia, 2011) [in Greek]; Cornelius Cas-
toriadis, Ancient Greek Democracy and Its Signifcance for Us Today (Athens: Ypsilon,
1986) [in Greek]. See also the cautious position of Tanasis D. Diamantopoulos, Te
Referendum as an Institution and as a Political Act: An Authentic Expression or the
Forced Guardianship of Popular Sovereignty? (Athens: I. Sideris, 2011) [in Greek]. It
is remarkable that Christos Yannaras, in his wild attacks on the parliamentary par-
ties of the Lef, does not challenge the society-centered vision, the non-negotiable
demand for freedom, that defne the Lef, but rather condemns the exploitation
and betrayal of the Lef; Christos Yannaras, Te Political Question in Greece Today
(Athens: Janus, 2009), 176 [in Greek].
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468 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
Is it Possible to Have a Christian Paganism?
One can fnd, in certain ecclesiastical circles, a strange mixture
that is part pre-modern/imperial, and part modern/totalitarian. A
theology with a totalitarian mindset results in a collectivist political
philosophy, i.e., a political philosophy that perceives the people as
a uniform and undiferentiated mass, which means that it is not able
to distinguish between the community of the Church and society
in general. It therefore envisions a state in which the atheists and
the heterodox are citizens by accident, an undesired aberration,
a cancer. Here, in the name of the Church transforming the world,
they commit a serious ecclesiological error. Christ is all, and in all
(Col 3:11) is stripped of its eschatological context and turned into a
political slogan for the here and now, which inevitably sees freedom
and diference within history as an impediment. Tis confusion
leads to Christian political ideas that tend, sometimes implicitly
and sometimes explicitly, toward totalitarianism and heavy-handed
moralizing.
8
In our days, there is a subtle distinction in this understanding
of the people. I say in our days because, afer all the theological
contributions from the decade of the 60s and thereafer, many of
the advocates of this concept claim that they do not understand
the people racially, but rather culturally, even going so far as
to denounce nationalism, which they equate with racism. Tis
distinction is signifcant, but it does not take care of the problem
entirely. In a totalitarian mentality, the cultural criterion can
function just as the racial one does, making indigenousness the
decisive criterion.
As I have argued elsewhere,
9
the term indigenousness in this
8 See my article, From the dilemma absence or presence to the question what kind
of presence? in the newspaper Christianiki, Tursday 19 February 2004, p. 8 [in
Greek].
9 Athanasios N. Papathanasiou, n Orphan or a Bride? Te Human Self, Collective
Identities and Conversion, in Tinking Modernity: Towards a Reconfguration of the
Relationship between Orthodox Teology and Modern Culture (eds. Assaad E. Kattan
& Fadi A. Georgi) (Balamand & Mnster: St John of Damascus Institute of Teol-
ogy, University of Balamand, Lebanon & Westphalian Wilhelms University, Centre
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 469
case is not used in its normal sensei.e., that every human being
has a homeland and a culturebut rather in the sense that the
truth is tied to being native. According to this deifed view of
indigenousness, the true citizen is he or she who remains faithful
in all respects (culture, religion, values, etc.) to the faith of his/her
ancestors. Otherwise, he/she is a renegade, a traitor, a bad citizen. In
this line of thought, cultural and religious identity are inextricably
bound; man is only comprehensible as part of a collective. Tis
perspective, of course, is contrary to Christianitys fundamental
tenet that there is one truth for all humankind, i.e., a truth which
is chosen, which encounters and challenges every indigenousness,
without itself being produced by any indigenousness. As a result,
one is able to break out from the collective into which he or she
was born, reformulate his/her cultural identity, and embrace a truth
that is diferent from that of his ancestors. Tis, afer all, is what
happened in the encounter between Hellenism and Christianity.
Ceding priority to indigenousness is the basic principle of an
ancient and enduring phenomenon: paganism.
Te paradox is when this pagan perspective is adopted by
Christians, who claim to believe in the one, universal truth of
Christ, while at the same time making indigenousness the prism
through which they see the world as well as, ultimately, their political
criterion. Tis ineluctably leads, consciously or unconsciously, to the
acceptance of indigenousness as a source of meaning. Advocates of
this view are, in fact, die-hard supporters of an extreme contextual
theology, even if they rail against it in their rhetoric. Collectivism is
the oldest and most intractable facilitator of Christians fornication
with totalitarianism. It did not frst appear (as is ofen argued) with
the nationalism of the modern erai.e., afer the dissolution of the
multinational Byzantine empirebut was, in fact, a temptation
inherent in that empire, inasmuch as it turned Christianity into
the very thing Christianity itself had rejected in its frst centuries:
of Religious Studies, 2010), 13363; Athanasios N. Papathanasiou, Te Church as
ission: Fr Alexander Schmemanns Liturgical Teology Revisited, Proche-Orient
Chrtien 60 (2010): 641.
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470 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
the religion of the state, conceived as a coherent whole (i.e., a
collective) in which any sort of diference constituted an ofense.
No matter how it was cloaked (sometimes emphasizing the racial
component, at other times the nationalistic, cultural, theocratic,
or some combination thereof ), collectivism turned the Gospel on
its head, warping the eucharistic community from something built
upon personal choice to something determined naturalistically.
Tis is precisely the attitude underlying those Christian
consciences that are susceptible to Nazi indigenism. Hitlers slogan
Blut und Boden (Blood and soil) encapsulates the National
Socialist credo. Tat this slogan expresses the most earthy and
animalistic way of being human, grounded in mundane biological
reductionism, is quite easy to demonstrate. Te question, however,
is whether it is similarly easy to distinguish a Nazi racially-based
indigenism from a Christian culturally-based attachment to
indigenousness. Research has shown that indigenism has not only
crude biological (and thus easily disposable) forms. Scholars such as
Lukacs and Ustorf have pointed out that, while Hitler was certainly
a racist, his ideas were not limited to biological reductionism, nor
to the blatant racism of his collaborators Rosenberg and Himmler.
National sentiments of superiority, where and when they existed
among the German people, were cultural rather than racial.
10

Lukac notes indicatively that as early as the late 1920s, Hitler
had defned race as the basis of the nation, but in 1944 began to
distinguish race from a people, even claiming that the Jews are
not a race at all,
11
probably taking into account not just biological
characteristics, but also cultural ones.
It is of paramount importancepainfully important, in
factto understand how certain theological trends facilitated,
10 John Lukacs, Te Hitler of History (New York: Vintage Books, 1998), 122; Werner
Ustorf, Sailing on the Next Tide: Missions, Missiology, and the Tird Reich (Frankfurt
am Main: Peter Lang, 2000), 45.
11 Lukacs, op cit, 124. Te racial criterion is exceptionally emphasized in Hitlers work
Mein Kampf, op cit, 20203, 388441 (11th chapter, Nation and Race. Lukacs, op
cit, 3, contends that Hitler himself deemphasized, if not altogether dismissed, Mein
Kampf afer 1936 [].
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 471
with astonishing speed, the reception of Nazism in the German
consciousness. Starting from the beginning of the 20th century, the
concept of Volkskirche, the church of the (or each) peoplewhich
was even seen as a unique expression of each particular race or
peoplebegan to develop, primarily in the Protestant milieu. Te
term referred to an entirely Christianized society, with a Christian
culture, Christian institutions, etc. Te idea sprang, apparently with
good intentions, from the struggle between two understandings and
methods of mission: on the one hand, the conversion of individuals
out from a people and, on the other, the Christianization of the
whole society.
12
Tus, in the early 20th century, when Germany
still had colonies in which the German churches had missions, the
fundamental, primeval ties of the African natural communities
were accepted en masse, in a collectivistic conversion. Western
Christianity, you see, is not limited to its infamous individualism; it
also includes collectivism, which, while it may excite supporters of
communitarianism, can also lead to the nightmare of totalitarianism.
From the missionary point of view, this concept poses an
enormous problem: the goal, of course, is to incarnate the Gospel
in the particular conditions of each and every context, but this
endeavor always runs the risk of falling prey to collectivism and
indigenousness, which produces not sarx (fesh) for the incarnation
of the Truth, but a sarcophagus that encages the Truth.
13
Te
Volkskirche paradigm of mission emphasized three points: Blut,
Boden, Alten (Blood, soil, elders).
14
As early as 1932, the German
Christians who accepted National Socialism declared: We want
an evangelical church that will be based on nationality and will
12 Timothy Yates, Christian Mission in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge/New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1994), 35.
13 See Tanasis N. Papathanasiou, Teaching Gypsies and Nobles about Circumcision
and Avatar: Indigeousness and Questions of Truth in Multi-cultural Societies,
Synaxi 98 (2006): 3547 [in Greek]. Te same line of thought is developed more
fully in my as-of-yet unpublished paper, Mission as a Challenge to an Orthodox
Contextual Teology at the international conference, Neo-patristic Synthesis or
Post-patristic Teology: Can Orthodox Teology Be Contextual?, Academy for
Teological Studies, Volos, 36 June 2010.
14 Yates, op cit, 4143.
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472 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
protect the nation from the degeneration of our people.
15
It is
not at all coincidental that one of the pre-eminent representations
of this perspective, the missionary Christian Keysser, admired
the collectivism of the Old Testament (the indissoluble bond
between soil, race, and theocracy), and welcomed Hitlers rise
to power in 1934, even calling him a fellow fghter.
16
Tis case
is quite indicative, because it demonstrates how lines become
blurred when Christianity and National Socialism are mixed: from
a rejection of the Semitic Old Testament on the one hand to an
enthusiastic embrace of its collectivist elements on the other. With
this emphasis on indigenousness and collectivism, it was almost
inevitable that those German Christians who were moved by
Nazism would create the monstrous hybrid of the Aryan Christ, i.e.,
a false Christ subjugated to the claims of the German context (i.e.,
indigenousness). Conversely, it is extremely revealing that the anti-
Nazi German Christians denounced Nazism as demonic.
17
Mark Mazower has perceptively noted that the revolutionary
rhetoric of National Socialism did not really mean a break with the
past (revolutionary attitudes demand, by defnition, a break), but
rather a continuation of the ideas of a distant past, which the Nazis
simply dressed up and intensifed.
18
Tis is precisely why Golden
Dawn attracts some religious people in Greece. As was the case in
pre-war Germany, National Socialist activism is seen as advocacy
for the primeval soul of the people, which has been wounded by
modernity. Te fact that, for religious people, this primeval soul
means the Christian tradition, while for Nazi pagans, it means
the pre-Christian tradition, is ultimately a minor consideration in
light of what is truly important for both groupsindigenousness.
15 Busch, op cit, 90.
16 Yates, op cit, 54. Of course, the backbone of the Biblecontrary to this collectiv-
ist readingis the emergence of the subject and personal responsibility, especially
in the prophets. See Klaus Koch, Te Prophets, Greek translation by Polixeni An-
donopoulou (Athens: Artos Zois, 2009), 43539.
17 See Eberhard Busch, Te Barmen Teses Ten and Now (tr. Darrell & Judith Guder)
(Grand Rapids/Cambridge, 2010); and Victoria Barnett, For the Soul of the People:
Protestant Protest Against Hitler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).
18 Mark Mazower, cited in Ustorf, op cit, 910.
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Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 473
Golden Dawns willingness to move from crude insults against
Christ
19
to declarations in favor of Christian oaths in judicial practice
(in order to preserve national morale)
20
is characteristic. Afer all,
Hitler was by no means an atheist, but was instead motivated by
the conviction that the German people and he personally had been
commissioned by the Divine Providence to create the highest form
of humanity on the planet.
21
Are there not af nities between some
Orthodoxs perceptions of the role of their holy nation (and not
specifcally the Church) and this way of thinking?
It is no coincidence that nowadays the crux of the confict
between the positive and negative stances within the Church
toward Golden Dawn is their respective attitudes toward
foreigners. Te immigration problem is extremely dif cult and
complex. Its international dimensions, and the ethno-nihilism of
some of the advocates for immigrants, have proven embarrassing
to people of goodwill. Whatever the dif culties, however, and no
matter how much the embarrassment, the primary concern for the
Church is not to lose its Christian criteria. Moving the center of
gravity from the Gospel-rooted acceptance of foreignness (both of
our fellow man and of Christ Himself ) to indigenousness results
in the creation of a diferent gospel. Golden Dawn understands
the whole issue quite clearly, and it is telling that Golden Dawn
has organized soup kitchens for Greeks only, hastening to explicitly
contrast this with the Churchs policy of opening its soup kitchens
to anyone and everyone in need.
22
Te problem is that the religious groups built around the
concept of indigenousness do not have similar clarity about the
criteria of the Gospel. Tus, one fnds a gaping intra-ecclesiastical
19 See Psaras, op cit, 21032, 30507.
20 www.xryshaygh.com/index.php/enimerosi/view/oi-sunhtheis-kathgoroi-ths-
chrushs-aughs-katadikazoun-thn-ellada (posted 9 January 2013; accessed 21 January
2013).
21 Not only in Mein Kampf, but also in his speeches. See Ustorf, op cit, 35, 40.
22 See, for example, the interview with members of Parliament for Golden Dawn, Elias
Kassidiaris and Elias Panayiotaros, on the television station Skai (with journalist
Nick Evagellatos), 10 May 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4aaeBBoGI
[accessed 01 February 2013].
SVTQ 57,3-4.indb 473 1/9/2014 9:26:33 PM
474 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
breach: on the one side, there are theologians and parish priests
who boldly preach and then put into actual practice the principle
that every human being is an icon of Christ, while elsewhere there
are other church persons for whom the issue is never considered in
soteriological perspective and never put high on the agenda. Tere,
the usual topic of discussion (when they are not directly asking to
stop aiding foreigners) involves the social problems of immigration,
not the spiritual problem of bypassing foreignness.
Te attitude of these ecclesiastical groups contributes to the
modern phenomenon that researchers have dubbed nativism,
23

meaning the shif of emphasis to indigenousness. From the crude
(and, as I said, easily confronted) biological criterion, some ultra
right-wing movements have moved to the most refned cultural
or sometimes to the osmosis of biological/culturalcriterion.
But at its crux is always an absolutized collectivist we, which is
sharply contrasted from the others, who are not included in our
collective nor, to a great extent, in our democracy. Te dynamics of
nativism needs to be carefully monitored, because it does not just
entail a national perspective (one can fnd a national perspective
in very diferent venues, such as, for example, the patriotic lef),
but a very specifc orientation: the emergence of the nation as a
source of meaning. It is equally true that one can fnd anti-Nazi
partisans of ancient Greek democracy within the paganistic milieu.
But what is needed from Christians is a radical opposition to any
kind of paganism, i.e., to any kind of deifcation of indigenousness
and thirst for power, which inevitably entails naturalism. Tis
means opposition even to nominal Christianities, which actually
constitute pagan lifestyles and value systems, sprinkled with cheap
and empty words: Lord, Lord . . . (Mt 7:21).
Te Double Standard
Te ecclesiastical circles with a totalitarian mentality loudly call, as
I have already noted, for democratic principles in the name of the
people; yet it is absolutely indicative that they themselves cultivate
23 Peter Papasarantopoulos, Foreword, in Mudde, op cit, 23.
SVTQ 57,3-4.indb 474 1/9/2014 9:26:33 PM
Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 475
neither democracy nor conciliarity within their own groups. Tey
are dominated rather by an unquestioned leader, either of the
charismatic type (a priest/spiritual father), or the institutional (a
bishop). What is produced, then, is a mix of lefist rhetoric on the
one hand and authoritarian behavior on the other (it could even
be seen as a kind of Stalinism but, as I said before, the National
Socialist paradigm is the coalescence of all the characteristics).
Halliday relates an incident that hits close to home; we have only to
replace the word president with Elder:
I once asked someone in a semi-authoritarian state that
allowed a multiplicity of parties and some variety in the press:
Why do you have pluralism in your country? And the
answer was: Because the Elder told us to have pluralism.
24
Te aforementioned mix produces something truly frightening,
which typically uses an increasingly insulting vocabulary to
describe its opponents, while even co-opting the opponents own
vocabulary. Tus the real fascists who praise dictators go so far as
to blame their adversaries for fascism! National Socialism cannot
exist without shock troops, and crypto-Nazi parties cannot exist
without vigilantes who roam the streets at night. A Christian
cannot justify the use of physical violence, but when he surrenders
to totalitarianism, he searches for ways to eliminate his opponents
using spiritual terrorism. A stroll through the sewers that call
themselves Christian blogs makes this abundantly clear! Tey
are overfowing with insults and threats. Superfcial attacks and
characterizations abound at the expense of those who wish to say
something substantive. Te treatment of dissidents occurs in such
a way that the audience (followers) consolidate, the people are
indoctrinated, and then mobilized against persons or opinions
about which they know only what the leader has told them. Nazi
propaganda insisted on the importance of repeating just a few things
to the masses, always in slogan form in order to make an immediate
24 Fred Halliday, Te World at 2000: Perils and Promises (London: Palgrave McMillan,
2001), 158, cited in the Greek translation by Ariadne Alavanou (Athens: Kastaniotis,
2001).
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476 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
impact and be easily repeatable. Hitler believed that people learn
little and forget easily.
25
In the case of religious totalitarianism, one
can easily see the derision of the bodily characteristics of dissidents
(how does this difer from crude biological reductionism?), and
delusional mental acrobatics that connectwithout any factual
basisopponents with groups that are doomed from the outset in
the minds of the audience (references to heresies, moral deviations,
etc.
26
). Te narrow-minded fanatic (a tautology!) cannot really discern
what someone who disagrees with him is really saying. He adopts the
convenience of the stupid: He ascribes anything he disagrees with to
being a product of the New Age, and thus unburdens himself of the
bother of having to actually think and treat his opponents arguments
seriously rather than resorting to ad hominem attacks. Afer all, in
the art of propaganda, the construction and the launch of ofensive
characterizations, along with generalizations, is a device to make us
form a judgment without examining the evidence on which it should
be based. Here the propagandist appeals to our hate and fear.
27
Under the sway of this combination of metaphysics and bullying,
the religious tend to sympathize with black-clad lads. As Vattimo
has aptly noted: Although not all metaphysics have been violent,
I would say that all violent people of great dimensions have been
metaphysical.
28
Anti-Semitism in Disguise
We read:
His life [sc. the Jews] is of this world only and his mentality
is as foreign to the true spirit of Christianity as his character
was foreign to the great Founder of this new creed two thou-
25 David Welch, Te Tird Reich: Politics and Propaganda (London: Routledge, 2002),
11.
26 Te populist radical right customarily emphasizes precisely this kind of diferentia-
tion between insiders and outsiders, constructing the identity of those who dis-
agree with giant conceptual leaps. See Mudde, op cit, 113.
27 Propaganda Techniques of German Fascism, http://www.maebrussell.com/Ar-
ticles%20and%20Notes/German%20Propaganda.html (13 May 2012).
28 John D. Caputo & Gianni Vattimo, Afer the Death of God (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2007), 43.
SVTQ 57,3-4.indb 476 1/9/2014 9:26:34 PM
Signs of National Socialism in the Greek Church 477
sand years ago. And the Founder of Christianity made no
secret indeed of His estimation of the Jewish people. When
He found it necessary He drove those enemies of the human
race out of the Temple of God; because then, as always,
they used religion as a means of advancing their commercial
interests. But at that time Christ was nailed to the Cross for
his attitude towards the Jews; whereas our modern Chris-
tians enter into party politics and when elections are being
held they debase themselves to beg for Jewish votes. Tey
even enter into political intrigues with the atheistic Jewish
parties against the interests of their own Christian nation.
29
Tis excerpt comes not from a militant Orthodox website nor
from a zealots homily. Tese are the words of Adolf Hitler! It is
both a monumental distortion of the Gospel (he condemns the
Jews nature and depicts Christ as expelling the Jews as a whole
rather than just the merchants!), and an example of why it is not
enough for Christians to denounce only the unabashedly anti-
Christian paganism; in order to contrast themselves clearly with
Nazism, they have to discern and denounce Nazism in every form
and disguise.
Racism has also evolved. As Pierre-Andr Taguief has written,
the old, grotesque version of racism, which was based on biology
and which defended inequality, has been succeeded by (without,
however, completely eradicating it) a new paradigm, which talks
about culture rather than race, diference rather than inequality, and
defnes itself as anti-Zionist rather than anti-Semitic.
30
Opposition
to political choices of Israeli governments is understood to be
legitimate (something Taguief himself recognizes), however, the
criteria in each case must be that of democracy and freedom.
Otherwise, the distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism
29 A. Hitler, Mein Kampf, tr. James Murphy (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1939), Ch XI.
30 History is not like a quiet river (Andreas Pantazopoulos interview with Pierre-
Andre Taguief) Kathimerini newspaper, 14 August 2011. news.kathimerini.
gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_1_14/08/2011_452528; accessed: 1 February 2013. See
also Pierre-Andre Taguief, What is Antisemitism? Greek tr. Anastasia Iliadeli &
Andreas Pantazopoulos (Athens: Estias, 2011).
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478 ST VLADIMIRS THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
rings hollow and serves as nothing more than a poor disguise for an
extreme anti-Jewishness. Anti-Semitism has a foothold in religious
circles that insist on the collective guilt of all generations of Jews for
the crucifxion of Christ; in other words, while these groups claim on
the one hand that they are opposed to the Zionist Jewish leadership
and not the Jewish people (and thus concede that opposition to
the Jewish people would make them anti-Semites), on the other
hand, they attribute collective guilt to the entire Jewish people,
including children and those yet to even be born! So which is it?
What are their criteria? Te following is a characteristic example of
the schizophrenia created by their ideological fanaticism: Te same
preachers who insist on the inherited guilt of the Jews are usually
the same ones who decry the medieval western concept of original
sin as inherited guilt!
31
What are we to do? It is easy for the self-proclaimed Orthodox
zealot to denounce the Filioque, but it is very dif cult for him to
give up the role of Inquisitor!
Translated by the Rev Dr Gregory Edwards, TD
31 See my article God as Provocateur, God as Nazi, and the Redeemer God: Essay on
the Value of Interpretation, Synaxi 119 (2011): 1725.
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