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Greek Orthodox Church

Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

by António Martins

Status of the Church in Greece
Flag of the Greek Orthodox Church
Mount Athos
- Status
- Use of flags
Meteora
Brotherhood of the Sepulcher in Jerusalem

See also:

Status of the church in Greece

From an ecclesiastical point of view Greece is in a peculiar situation:
Areas that formed part of the Kingdom of Greece between 1830 and 1912 belong to the Autonomous Greek Orthodox Church, based in Athens and headed by Archbishop Christodoulos. I believe that the church, or the archbishop, uses a flag which is red with a yellow cross and four golden firesteels (B like symbols) in the four quarters (the ones near the hoist are regular Bs the ones in the fly are inverted). This is an old Paleologue symbol. The Paleologues were the last imperial dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, based at Constantinople (Istanbul) which fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

The parts of mainland Greece that were added to it after the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 (i.e. Greek Macedonia and Thrace) are direct subjects of the Patriarch but are administrated, on his behalf, by the Greek Orthodox Church. Churches in the North display the Patriarchate black double-headed eagle (another Byzantine symbol - after all the Patriarch's title is at least as old as the Byzantine Empire and was closely connected to it).
Rhodes (which became part of Greece in 1948) and the rest of the Dodecanese islands belong to the Patriarchate and are directly administrated by it. Again, it is natural for them to display the Patriarchate flag.

The Patriarchate is not an independent state like Vatican. From a legal point of view, it is simply a Turkish corporation (since it is based in Turkey). The Patriarch (currently His Holiness Bartholomew I) is not head of any state.
However, the Patriarch is officially the "Spiritual Leader" of the "Autonomous Monastic State