National Legal Framework

Concise Catalogue of the Religious Regulatory Framework, years 2012–2016
1. Law 4038/2012 (Government Gazette A’14/2-2-2012): The deadline provided for in article 7, paragraph 5 of Law 4024/2011 is extended by three (3) months from the publication of Law 4038/2012 (article 1, paragraph 12).
2. Law 4056/2012 (Government Gazette A’52/12-3-2012): All types of livestock facilities are prohibited near highly visited monasteries and other similar sites (article 5, paragraph 1).
3. Presidential Decree 53/2012: “Maintenance of a special evaluation system for clergy of the Orthodox Church of Greece” (Government Gazette A’105/30-4-2012).
4. Law 4093/2012 (Government Gazette A’222/12-11-2012): The salary of the Archbishops of the Church of Greece is adjusted (article 1, paragraph C, subparagraph C1, and point 29).
5. Law 4111/2013 (Government Gazette A’18/25-1-2013): The off-budget account entitled “Fund for the payment of parish clergy salaries” is incorporated into the budget of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs; the salaries of the personnel of the Metropolises are included in the Single Payment Authority (article 13, paragraph 5).
6. Law 4115/2013 (Government Gazette A’24/30-1-2013): Establishment of 120 positions of Islamic religious ministers for the teaching of the Quran and the Arabic language to Muslim students in Thrace, within or outside school hours, at Medresses (article 53, paragraph 1 = article 36 of Law 3536/2007).
7. Law 4122/2013 (Government Gazette A’42/19-2-2013): Building permits issued from the abolition of Church Property Organization Body (13-10-1988) are recognized as legal until the entry into force of the Law (article 25).
8. Law 4139/2013 (Government Gazette A’74/20-3-2013): The establishment of substance rehabilitation centers by ecclesiastical entities is permitted (article 58, paragraph 3, and point c).
9. Law 4146/2013 (Government Gazette A’90/18-4-2013): Real estate owned by Legal Entities under Public Law or Legal Entities under Private Law of the Church of Greece and the Church of Crete may be included in Law 3894/2010 on “strategic private investments” (article 5, paragraph 4).
10. Law 4152/2013 (Government Gazette A’107/9-5-2013): Exemption from the Single Property Tax for real estate used by religious legal entities for worship, educational, religious and charitable activities (article 1, paragraph 7, and point b).
11. Joint Ministerial Decision (Ministries of Finance and Education) 2/52141/AYEP/28-5-2013 (Government Gazette B’ 1370/6-6-2013): Exemption of religious Legal Entities under Public Law from the supervision of the General Secretariat for Fiscal Policy of the Ministry of Finance and from the application of Law 3492/2006.
12. Law 4170/2013 (Government Gazette A’163/12-7-2013): Urban planning development of properties owned by the legal entities referred to in article 1, paragraph 4 of Law 590/1977 is permitted pursuant to the provisions governing State-owned property (article 69 = article 17B of Law 3986/2011).
13. Law 4182/2013 (Government Gazette A’185/10-9-2013): A joint public limited company is established between the State and the Holy Archdiocese of Athens (Public Limited Company for the Utilization of Ecclesiastical Property) for the utilization of the real estate of the latter or other Metropolises, with revenues shared equally between the two parties (article 83).
14. Law 4203/2013 (Government Gazette A’235/1-11-2013): Special Public Power Corporation tariff for “Social Solidarity Services” for Public Law welfare Legal Entities, ecclesiastical-charitable institutions and specially certified non-profit private law entities (article 17 paragraph 6 = Article 58A of Law 4002/2011).
15. Law 4213/2013 (Government Gazette A’261/9-12-2013): Grant of use of immovable property to the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Verino, Achaia (article 15).
16. Law 4218/2013 (Government Gazette A’268/10-12-2013): Service contracts for the personnel of the Institute for Pastoral Education of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens are permitted (article 6, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1); the Holy Metropolises of Crete, the Dodecanese and the Patriarchal Monasteries are added to the ecclesiastical legal entities exempt from the provisions regarding the mandatory reserve deposits at the Bank of Greece and investment in State bonds (article 6, paragraph 1, subparagraph 2 = article 38, paragraph 7 of Law 3986/2011).
17. Law 4235/2014 (Government Gazette A’32/11-2-2014): Provision of a one-year deadline for the publication of unpublished appointment acts (issued up to 2010) in the Government Gazette concerning serving clergy of the Church of Greece, the Church of Crete and the Holy Metropolises of the Dodecanese, with retroactive effect (article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1); the Muftiates of Western Thrace are recognized as public services at the General Directorate level (article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 2); the legal entities of the Church of Greece, the Church of Crete, the Holy Metropolises of the Dodecanese, the Jewish Communities, the Organization for the Care and Rehabilitation of Jews in Greece, the Patriarchal Monasteries and the Pan-Hellenic Holy Foundation of the Evaggelistria in Tinos are exempt from the provisions concerning the Public Sector and General Government as regards their organization, administration, property and accounting management, unless otherwise specifically provided by law (article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 3); for charitable or educational purposes, the donation of ecclesiastical and public property, public entities or local government bodies, the donation of real estate for the construction of a monastery, church or bishopric or between ecclesiastical legal entities are permitted and such donations are exempt from transfer fees (article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 8a); quasi-universal succession is established regarding the property of pre-existing ecclesiastical legal entities by the Holy Metropolises and Parishes within the same territorial jurisdiction (article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 8b).
18. Law 4254/2014 (Government Gazette A’85/7-4-2014): Ecclesiastical institutions and entities of the Church participate in programs supporting the homeless, funded from the 2013 General Government primary surplus (article 1, paragraph A, subparagraph A.2 = article 29 paragraph 9 of Law 4052/2012).
19. Law 4258/2014 (Government Gazette A’94/14-4-2014): Establishment of a Construction Service within the Church of Crete, responsible for Bishoprics, Monasteries and Parishes of the Church of Crete and the Metropolises of the Dodecanese (Article 12, the provision is similar to that of article 53 of Law 4178/2013).
20. Law 4283/2014 (Government Gazette A’189/10-9-2014): Merit-based evaluation of teachers of the Athoniada Academy and the Patriarchal School (article 4A); recruitment lists for teachers in ecclesiastical secondary schools (article 9, paragraph 3); clergy of the Church of Crete and the Holy Metropolises of the Dodecanese are added to article 68, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1 of Law 4235/2014, and its force is extended until December 31, 2014 (article 17); retired monks receiving pensions of no more than 9,500 euros are not required to file an income tax return (article 22, paragraph 2); the Monasteries of Mount Athos are exempt from the obligation to file an E9 form, pay stamp duty, withhold and remit payroll and income taxes (article 22, paragraphs 1, 3 and 4).
21. Law 4301/2014 (Government Gazette A’223/7-10-2014): The establishment of religious legal entities of any religion and denomination as Legal Entities under Private
Law is permitted (this does not apply to Muftiates of Western Thrace, Jewish Communities and Orthodox Communities in communion with the Great Church of Christ) and their registration in the register of religious legal entities by decision of the Single-Member Court of First Instance under voluntary jurisdiction; a prerequisite is the submission of a petition signed by 300 individuals and their religious minister; religious ministers are registered; religious legal entities are entitled to establish places of worship anywhere in the country (articles 1-12); the Holy Synod of the Catholic Hierarchy and the dioceses, parishes, monasteries and religious communities are recognized as religious Legal Entities under Private law and are registered, upon their application and regardless of the number of their members, in the books of religious legal entities within one year (article 13); their religious ministers are registered in a register of religious legal entities and religious ministers (article 14); the provisions of article 68, paragraph 1 of Law 4235/2014 are extended to the Church of Crete and the Holy Metropolises of the Dodecanese (articles 19, 21, 22); higher ecclesiastical schools, middle schools and high schools are renamed (article 20); the transfer of theology teachers to Holy Metropolises is permitted (article 24); the establishment of Holy Monasteries, Hermitages and Parishes of the Church of Greece or Crete, without a founding act published in the Government Gazette , is made by a declaratory act of the Standing Holy Synod or the Episcopal Synod (article 25); the President of the Pan-Hellenic Holy Foundation of the Evaggelistria in Tinos has the right to vote in the election of the Vice President and General Secretary from among the members of the Executive Committee; the Pan-Hellenic Holy Foundation of the Evaggelistria in Tinos is no longer exempt from the provisions regarding ecclesiastical institutions and Pilgrimage Sites of Law 590/197, without Law 349/1976 being repealed (articles 26, 51, paragraph 6); regulations of ecclesiastical institutions or Pilgrimage Sites, regulations of religious monasteries published in the “CHURCH” Bulletin rather than in the Government Gazette may be published within one year in the Government Gazette with retroactive effect; if they were published in the Government Gazette , that publication suffices (article 27); a Supervisory Council of Medresses in Thrace is established within the Ministry of Education (article 28); the five vacant personal Metropolises under article 12 of Law 1951/1991 are abolished, and the Metropolis of Goumenissa is made permanent (article 44); the places of worship of the Ecclesiastical Legal Entities under Private Law of Law 590/1977, along with their auxiliary premises, are exempt from demolition without a fee or special fine; churches are exempt from reciprocal fees (article 46); the Standing Holy Synod has the authority to determine the composition of the Metropolitan Councils by its own Regulation (article 51, paragraph 1); in addition to the churches, the properties of dissolved or dissolving monasteries belong to the Holy Metropolises, the reestablished monasteries, or the monasteries that acquired the dissolved ones as dependencies (article 51, paragraph 2); the internal regulations of the Monasteries and Hermitages are approved by the Standing Holy Synod (article 51, paragraph 3); paragraph 3(b) of article 47 is reworded (article 51, paragraphs 4–5); the decrees on the distribution of monastic property in implementation of Law 4684/1930 and the property inventory tables of the Agreement of September 26, 1952, between the State and the Church constitute title to ownership by operation of law (article 51, paragraph 7); the selection of professors at the Athoniada School is subject to the approval of the Holy Superintendence, which is not required to provide specific justification (article 52, paragraph 1); a representative of the Church of Greece serves without a vote on the Multi-Member Council of the Rizarios School (article 52, paragraph 2).
22. Law 4315/2014 (Government Gazette A’269/24-12-2014): The construction of Holy Churches of legal entities under Law 590/1977, with a height exceeding the standard limits and a maximum height of 15 meters, within settlements established before 1923 and settlements with populations up to 2,000 inhabitants, is permitted subject to prior approval by the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (article 10 paragraph 7); interventions in public forest areas of certain categories is permitted for the construction of Holy Churches, all types of monasteries, their dependencies or Hermitages (article 12, paragraph 3= article 57, paragraph 1 of Law 998/1979); the maintenance of Holy Churches within forests, forest areas and certain categories of public land, is permitted for a three-year period provided that the required permits, environmental approvals or building permits are obtained (article 12, paragraph 7= article 52, paragraph 7 of Law 4280/2014).
23. Law 4316/2014 (Government Gazette A’270/24-12-2014): Permanent employees and employees under private law with indefinite-term contracts in public services and legal entities under public law, who hold permanent positions and are spouses of clergy of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Greece (priests and deacons) serving as teachers or professors in secondary and tertiary education, are permitted to be seconded, by way of derogation from the provisions in force, to positions in the narrow public sector as a priority and, in the absence of staffing needs in the broader public sector, to positions in the area where their spouse serves (article 72 paragraph 2 = article 21 paragraph 1 of Law 2946/2001).
24. Law 4386/2016 (Government Gazette A’83/11-5-2016): The Holy Metropolis of Stagon and Meteora is established as permanent (article 55, Government Gazette A’83/11-05-2016).