SUBSCRIBE NOW

SIGHT

Be informed. Be challenged. Be inspired.

Greek Orthodox metropolitan calls for aid for Greece in handling migrant influx, warning of “a huge crisis coming”

Greece needs help in dealing with the tens of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees who have arrived in the country from war-torn nations like Syria in the past five years, according to a senior member of the Orthodox Church of Greece who has warned of a “huge crisis” coming in the country as a result of the migrant influx.

Metropolitan Gabriel

Greek Metropolitan Gabriel. PICTURE: Janina Finkemeyer/WCC

In an interview published on the World Council of Churches’ website, Most Rev Gabriel, Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Filadelfia, has said Greece, which has been embroiled in its own economic crisis for the past eight years as its GDP dropped by 30 per cent, was “at a loss as to how to deal with this unprecedented situation”.

“Vast numbers of asylum seekers are now blocked, due to the Dublin II treaty, and the refugee camps facilities cannot host them properly,” he said. “Diseases and inner conflicts are a daily reality in the camps, and we are all aware of the tragedy in the island of Lesvos and the Moria camp. The government is trying to do its best, but the procedures are complicated, and we foresee a huge crisis coming.”

Metropolitan Gabriel said international agreements to deal with the situation – which has seen 31,000 irregular migrants arrive in Greece by sea and almost 17,000 arrive by land during 2018 alone – have failed.

“European political institutions, in cooperation with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, need to work on a new effective policy or, in a very short time, we will face huge problems of stability and peaceful co-existence in Greek society,” he said. “You can understand that for the last five or six years these situations presented significant challenges to the Greek people, and they have proved their Christian faith and solidarity in praxis and in every possible way. But now they have begun to tire. Global society needs to understand that Greece now needs help and assistance to sustain herself.”

Hailing moves by other church leaders – including Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – to call for solutions to the problem, Metropolitan Gabriel said the church needed to “raise our voices about the necessity of global cooperation in stability, peace, solidarity, and for virtues and values that are necessary if we want to have continuity in our societies”. “The stranger is an opportunity to see God.”

But he added that churches – like European institutions and member states – did not have the power or means alone to “find answers”. “[W]e need more facilities, more experience in crisis management and we need as many experts as possible to be engaged,” he said.

 

Donate



sight plus logo

Sight+ is a new benefits program we’ve launched to reward people who have supported us with annual donations of $26 or more. To find out more about Sight+ and how you can support the work of Sight, head to our Sight+ page.

Musings

TAKE PART IN THE SIGHT READER SURVEY!

We’re interested to find out more about you, our readers, as we improve and expand our coverage and so we’re asking all of our readers to take this survey (it’ll only take a couple of minutes).

To take part in the survey, simply follow this link…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.