POLITICAL; SOCIOLOGICAL - RELIGION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210024-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2002
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: February 27, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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MAR 1952 01-4u
- Al,
CLASSIFIr,A?IO J ggST :1
CENTRALSM?L'Y,..jDLRM TION.
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
Greece; Israel; Jordan; FEypt; USSR
SUBJECT Political; Sociological - Religion
HOW
PUBLISHED
Daily newspaper
Athens
3 - 10 Oct 1952
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LAPIGUAGE
TMI, DOC DSNT CONTAINS IN,0If4110N A,ftCTIIO ?It NATI DNAL DAIPISE
Of TIE UNITED STATES. PI TYI, TYEIII.AINA or TITLE If, SECTIONS 713
AI'D 714, Of TYC V.I. COOS. AS A$EYDCO. ITS 1114.0Y11f I0S ON IESI.
LATION 01 ITS COYTflTS TO O. RIC'IPT IT A. u.AAT10O17LO PERSON IS
REPORT NO.
CD NO.
DATE OF
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DAlE DISTP7'eb 1953
NO. OF PAGES 5
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
GREEIC ORTHODOX CHURCH ACTIVITIES
IN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST
The Athens newspapers Ethnos has published two series of
articles on the activities of the Greek Orthodox churches in
the Near and Middle East. One serf s, by Dinos Koutsoumis,
the paper's Jerusalem correspondent, deals with the difficulties
and problems confronting the Greek Orthodox Church and its
laity. It also touches on Soviet attempts to infiltrate the
Church and through it, the Middle East.
The other aeries, written by Ap. V. Daskalakis, Professor
of the University of Athens, is concerned with the concentrated
Infiltration attempts of the. Soviet Union into the Greek Ortho-
dox Church of -the Near and Middle East.- The following report
is a summary of the articles by the two correspondents.
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended aourcea_7
D. loutsoumis wrote that the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem is at present in the grip of a great crisis and is in great need of
funds to safeguard the holy shrines for the Greek Orthodox Church. He'added
that the number of clerics there must be increased to 200, because at present,
there are only about 100 monks, and the majority of these are quite old.
Moreover, many of the shrines and monasteries are already wi :.out monks. On
the other hand, he continued, the other religious sects have an estimated
3,000 clerics in Jerusalem ostensibly to maintain their own places of worship,
but actually to wait until the time is ripe for them to take over the Brother-
hood's property.
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Archimandrite Palladio., chief secretary of the Patriarchate, pointed
out to Koutsoumis Greek that Catholics, the Roman Catholics, and the
Russian Orthodox were building shrines only to make themselves know,
adding that "it is a sort' of competition they are showing us."
Koutsoumis stated that a foreign cleric in Jerusalem frankly told
I. Moesbopoulos, Greek Consul General in Jerusalem, "We have no need to make
war against your Patriarchate... A fortress falls of itself when its defenders
are absent...."
In this connection, houtsoumis said. that a Greek deputy and former
minister has expressed the idea that a law should be constituted by the Greek
aoveinslent, following agreement vith the Church, which would obligate the
Church's higher clerics to live in Jerusalem for 5 years. The Patriarchate of
Jerusalem, according to Koutsoumis, doing everything it. could to alleviate
the situation, had brought clerics from Greece, but they had not been able
to endure the privations of '.ife there a-td had left. He added that the
founding of = theological school is now being contemplated, and a nucleus is
to be formed out of students from Greece and others from Palestine. He said,
however, that the project will not produce results for at'least 10 to 15 years.
Koutsoumis pointed out that the enormous strength of Catholicism, together
with its offanoots, which is fighting in Jeruca.Lem against Greek Orthodoxy,
must also be taken into consideration. He added that Catholicism has
abundant financial. resources, scientists, artists, and clergy who can be
mobilized to strengthen the Vatican's struggle. According to Koutsoumis, it is
a sort of "hot war," which is not immediately discernible. He said that attacks
such as the :cent attempt of the Catholics to appropriate privileges at Beth-
lehem are still to be confronted,, even though that particular attempt failed.(1)
Koutsoumis also wrote about the problems of the Greek community in
Jerusalem, .:ring that the Patriarch of Jerusalem is leading the struggle to
maintain that cc=unity in the city. According to the correspondent, the
numbeTe ::? the. _?~- amity have decreased alarmingly, particularly since the
Jews entered the city. The Greeks, he continued, feelih that the Christian
always finds 'cte Lion with the Arab, left behind their business establishments,
occupations, enti-rpriaes, and fortunes, which were, to a great extent, in the
new city, and took ref'i a in Arab Jerusalem. He added that the Patriarchate
went to their aid, even making available to them the little cubicles used by
the mon3r, for llzani -5s years. The Patriarchate is still caring for some of
these refugees; s..Gzc numbers also include Arabs and Turks.
Koutsoumis stated that the Greeks are much concerned over the fortunes
they left in the nom. the Israeli. government has sequestered these fortunes.
Consul General Moshopoulos, according to Ko'itsoumis, has said that the matter
will be solved when the ga::~rsl problem of Jerusalem is settled.
The correspondent pointed out that at one time, there were 2,5OO Greeks
in Palestine; now t::e n,.mber h4a fallen to 450. He said that two attempts
have been made to establisi, a Greek colony in Jerusalem, but both were fruc?-
trated. According to thlL CYc_ eri, the number or pupils attending the
Greek school in Jerusalem has fallen to 30. The young men there are gradually
leaving for Australia.(2)'
Koutsoumis stated that the Soviet Uninn is quietly but systematically
carrying out a plan for the cony,:.=et cf the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of
Jerusalem.
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According to the correspondert, the Soviet plan began to take shape even
before Aleksey was installed as Patriarch of Moscow, He pointed out that all
the Patriarchs and religious leaders of the Middle East'churches had been
invited to Moscow to attend the ceremony of his installation as Patriarch.
He said' `hat these religious leaders were surprised to hear that the Soviet
Union was willing to return to the churches all their expropriated fortunes.
Koutsoumis added, "they could not know that behind this move was hidden the
new Soviet plan for the Middle East."(3)
Koutsoumis pointed out that this plan, labeled Stavros (Cross), was
formulated in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs Section for Religion and
is the basis for all the infiltration work now berg carried out by the
Russian Orthodox Church on behalf or the Soviet Union.
Later, Koutsoumis added, during a Moscow meeting which was attended by re-
presentatives of all the Orthodox churches, the first contact was made between
Moscow and the Patriarchate of Antioch,. Aleksey, according to the writer,
promised the Patriarch that the Soviet government would assist him materially
if he would agree to enter into "official relations" with the Patriarchate of
Moscow. Koutsoumis went on to say that the Antioch Patriarchate, whose
laity is composed mostly of Arabs rather than, Creeks, is very poor. Therefore,
he added, when Daniel Solov was appointed Soviet Minis`"r to Damascus and
Beirut, two churches in Moscow were returned to the jurisdiction of the
Antioch Patriarchate. Also, according to information picked up by Koutsoumis
in Jcru:;ale-, the COViet
gOVGLLILCLLt has nu _1_U17 -ar given 3,000 pounds to the
Antioch Patriarchate. Koutsoumis stated that the Patriarch of Antioch has
sentVasileios Samahas, his confidant,as his representative to Moscow.
According to the correspondent, all these events have given rise to claims
that the Antioch Partriarchate has submitted to Soviet influence, that
delegates from Moscow have access to this old religious center and that,
sooner or later, the Patriarchate will be completely lost to the Greek Church.
Koutsoumia went on to say that "to admit, however, that the Partriarchate
of Antioch has been completely subjugated to Moscow would be an unjust
criticism against its Patriarch. Perhaps, economic reasons have forced the
Patriarch to make certain concessions.. In * -a connection, Archbishop
Makarios of Cyprus, who talked with the Patriarch of Antioch recently, stated
that the situation was not quite as bad as presented by the irreconcilable
critics of the Patriarch of Antioch." (4)
In connection with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Koutsoumis stated that
two clerics, the Archimandrites Leonid and Vladimir, were sent by Moscow to
Jerusaler These two men, he added, were later recalled, and the 30-year-
old Archimandrite Polykarpos was sent in their stead. He said that the
Archimandrite was a member of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and had
immense sums at his disposal. The correspondent said that the Archimandrite
traveled about Palestine, visiting the various abbeys helping the monks, and
talking to them about continuing the church policies of Czarist Russia.
Later, Koutsoumis Continued, the Archimandrite received help from two men,
Ivan Ivanovich Zaytses iSaitsev?7 and Koharof Kalougen LKomarov-Kalug;n?7,
sent by the Kremlin. The Kremlin's p.-!.an according to Koutsoumis, wac to
separate the Arab orthodox laity, which numbers 15,000 communicants, from the
Patriarchate of Jerusalem so that the Patriarch would eventually be fcrced to
ask Moscow for economic aid
The first step in this plan, continued the correspondent, was the revival
of the Palestine Society, whose agents are now visiting the homes of the Arab
Orthodox, dispensing material or medical aid and. thus propagandizing for the
Soviet Union.(3) Daskalakis pointed out in his article that the society has
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great financial means. He added that old Russian monasteries which had
become deserted and had fallen into ruin have been restored and staffed' by
young monks sent from Moscow. These monks, according to Daskalakis, are also
working to re-establish the old Czarist Russian prestige and to proselytize
the Greek and Arab clerics in the holy places to Soviet views.(5)
Koutsoumis pointed out that the Palestine Society is also trying to
regain the estates it possessed in Palestine during the Czarist regime. The
Israeli government, he stated, has relegated the issue to the courts, which
will decide to what extent the claim of Pavel Segeyev, Soviet Minister in
Tel Aviv, is justified. He states that the old society, organized by the
Czare, is the same as the present one of the Kremlin.
In the meantime, according to Koutsoumis, reliable sources state that
Soviet propaganda is making surprising gains in Galilee. He said that an
assembly against the Greek Patriarchate was iieid last July in Nazareth, capital
of the province. The assembly was the first outward Soviet manifestation
against the Patriarchate, according to the correspondent. Characteristically,
Koutsoumis continued, the first proposals made at this assembly were (a)
the separation of the Arab Orthodox laity in lerael from the Patriarchate of
Jerusalem and its adherence to the Patriarchs':,. ,f Antioch; and (b) the
adherence of the latter's laity to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The correspondent pointed out that despite gifts of various kinds and
tempting offers to the Orthodox clerics, noue have as yet yielded to the
Soviets-(3) Tlowevc:r, Da~,kalakls stated' iii ii.io aLt1C1e that tha idea that the
estates owned in Russia by the Middle East Greek Orthodox Patriarchates during
the time of the Czars might be returned has been encouraged by Soviet diplomats
in their attempts to proselytize the Orthodox clergy, The latter have main-
tained the hope that the estates vculd be returned or that the Church would
at least receive conciderable compensation for their loss.
Daskalakis added that the Patriarch of Alexandria recently described as
groundless the fears expressed about the activities of the Russian Orthodox
Church in behalf of Soviet plans for the Near East. The Patriarch maintained.
that the Russian Orthodox Church was "moving and acting completely within
the framework of Christian principles, independent of the Soviet government,
being exclusively interested in reviving the r..ld Christian conscience of the
Soviet people without serving political aims." (1)
Daskalakis stated that the tendency of the Alexandria and the Antioch
Patriarchates to present the Russian Church as independent of the Soviet
Union is not justified by events- He said that the Russian Church fought
to secure a position for the Soviet consul on the advisory council of the
Ambeteios School, a large Greek school in Cairo. on the basis of an old pro-
vision in the school's organization plan. In this way, he said, the church
would be able gradually to transform the e,:h,cl into an Arab-speaking one
and into an or(ran of Soviet propaganda. Through promises of a subsidy to
the Patriarchate of Alexandria, in lieu of compensation for the loss of its
._s.: riated_ estates in the Soviet Union, the Russian Church, according to the
writer, is attempting to proselytize the Arab clergy in Syria and Lebanon.
where because of the political systems, the clergy exercises some political
influence. "If further proof' is needed," concluded..Koutsoumi