The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Archbishop Ieronymos have arranged to meet on Wednesday at Maximos Mansion, ahead of the critical EU-Turkey summit meeting.

It appears that the Prime Minister will request the greater involvement of the Church in addressing the refugee crisis. Currently, the Church of Greece is largely involved in the operation of the hot spot on Samos, aside from it usual charitable work and humanitarian actions.

Additionally, PM Tsipras and Archbishop Ieronymos are to discuss possible changes to the religious education course in schools. The Minister of Education Nikos Filis recently suggested that the course may be replaced by a religious studies course, which has understandably caused concern within the Church.

Aside from discussing in greater detail the prospect of changing the school course, the Archbishop will request that bishops be allowed to visit schools. The Archbishop will underline that the bishops will not be participating in any teaching or ‘evaluate’ teachers.