ORTHODIXIE ... Southern, Orthodox, Convert, Etc.

ATHENS, Greece - The monks of the Holy Mountain of Athos have criticized a visit to the Vatican by Greece's church leader Archbishop Christodoulos last month.

"We bear a heavy responsibility before the faithful people of Greece who regard (us) as being the inviolable guardian of holy tradition," the monks wrote. Their letter was published Wednesday in the Athens daily Ethnos. "It is with anguish that we declare that Mount Athos does not agree with common prayers, participation in liturgies or other devotional meetings that give the impression that the Orthodox Church accepts the Roman Catholics as a full church," the monks wrote in the letter signed by the official representatives of all 20 of the self-governing monasteries on the peninsula.

Archbishop Christodoulos met Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Dec. 14 and signed a joint declaration calling for inter-religious dialogue and reaffirming common opposition to abortion and euthanasia.

Since becoming pope in 2005, Benedict has taken steps to improve relations between Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Church, which have been divided for nearly 1,000 years and are still split by long-standing questions of doctrine. He visited Turkey Nov. 28-Dec. 1 and met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is First-Among-Equals for the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. The Athonite monks wrote that Benedict's efforts "may have had some benefits of secular significance, but included events which are contrary to the foundations of Orthodox practice."

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Benedict meets Athens Archbishop

Athens News Agency reports that Pope Benedict yesterday also met with Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, who was making his first visit by a primate of the Orthodox Church of Greece to the Vatican, except for his attendance of the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

In a statement, the two Church leaders proclaimed their "common mission in walking the difficult path of the dialogue of truth towards restoration of society's communion in the bond of love"

They also urged the developed nations to manifest greater assistance to the developing and poorer countries.

In the joint communique, issued after a meeting between the two Church leaders, the Archbishop and the Pope stressed their belief that religions held a particular role in the preservation and prevalence of world peace.

"As Christian leaders, we jointly urge the entirety of religions leaders to continue and strengthen the inter-religious dialogue and work for the creation of a society of peace and fraternity among individuals and peoples," the communique said.

They further urged the developed countries to "manifest greater contribution to the developing states but also to the poorer countries, with the aim of helping the weak and poor who are by far the children of God".

A Reuters report adds that Archbishop Christodolous also asked Pope Benedict on Thursday to return a piece of the Parthenon in the Vatican Museums.

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Oh, and the above news story also includes this ...

Church owes millions in taxes, Israel says ...

In another report backgrounding the dispute between Israel and the Vatican, the Jerusalem Post says that the Vatican and an array of Christian churches in Jerusalem owe the city hundreds of millions of shekels in overdue property tax.

According to Israeli law, properties that are used as houses of prayer are exempted from paying property tax (arnona).

But the churches, which owe vast amounts of properties in Jerusalem, are required to pay the city property tax for buildings they own that are not used for worship, including hostels, guest houses, and schools, the city said.

The total amount of unpaid property tax amounts to roughly NIS 300 million ($A90 million), with the Latin Patriarchate the biggest offender, a city spokesman said.

The debt collection has been frozen pending ongoing negotiations between the State of Israel and the Vatican over the delicate issue.
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