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Greek Parliament Ratifies Ten-Year Agreement to Protect Jerusalem Patriarchate’s Heritage
Greece has approved a ten-year, $1.15 million-a-year partnership with the Jerusalem Patriarchate to preserve its religious and cultural heritage while respecting its autonomy.
ATHENS — The Greek Parliament has ratified a ten-year Memorandum of Cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem aimed at protecting, studying, and promoting the Patriarchate’s religious, historical, and cultural heritage.
Signed in Athens on June 8, 2026, the agreement brings together the Jerusalem Patriarchate and Greece’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture. It covers Holy Shrines, churches and monasteries, religious treasures and works of art, as well as manuscripts and other materials held in the Patriarchate’s Historical Archive and Patriarchal Library.
A central provision calls for $1.15 million in annual funding for projects covered by the agreement, with the two Greek ministries contributing equal amounts. Planned initiatives include the conservation and restoration of monuments, icons, frescoes, mosaics, wood carvings, and other religious treasures, along with scientific studies and digital documentation.
The agreement also provides for conferences, lectures, academic projects, and publications concerning the Patriarchate’s history and heritage. Greek universities and international scientific, research, and cultural organizations may participate in the initiatives, while manuscripts and printed materials in the Historical Archive and Patriarchal Library will be organized, conserved, and digitized.
The memorandum stipulates that projects will respect the historical, administrative, and canonical autonomy of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The Patriarchate will work with the Greek ministries to establish priorities and conditions for individual projects, with funding allocated to programs approved in writing and implemented under Greek law.
Initial discussions have already begun concerning projects including restoration of the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre in Athens’ Plaka district and the Byzantine Church of Goumeno in Ilia. The agreement was supported by New Democracy, PASOK, Greek Solution, SYRIZA, and Niki, while the Communist Party of Greece and Course of Freedom voted “present.”
Previously, the UOJ reported that Patr. Theophilos joined the patronal feast at Gethsemane Monastery.
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