Greece, December 3, 2025
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
Orthodox churches in Greece continue to be the primary target of attacks on religious sites, accounting for the vast majority of incidents recorded in 2024, according to the annual report published by the General Secretariat for Religions.
The report documents 412 incidents at places of religious significance throughout Greece in 2024, representing a notable decrease from the 608 incidents recorded in 2023. However, Orthodox churches bore the brunt of these attacks, with 399 incidents—representing 96.84% of all cases—directed against Orthodox Christian sites, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.
The incidents against Orthodox churches included burglaries, thefts, acts of vandalism, sacrilege, desecration of graves, tomb robberies, arson attacks and other forms of desecration. The data was compiled by the Department of Religious Freedoms and Interfaith Relations of the General Secretariat for Religions, which works in cooperation with religious communities and state authorities to track such incidents.
The remaining incidents were distributed among other religious communities: three incidents affected Old Calendarist Orthodox Christian sites (0.73%), while the Armenian Orthodox Metropolis, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish sites and Muslim sites each recorded between one and five incidents.
The General Secretary for Religions, Georgios Kalantzis, noted in his introduction that 2025 marks ten years since the first report on incidents against places of religious significance was published. What began in 2015 as a reform aimed at obtaining reliable data has now become an established practice, he stated.
The report includes geographical and statistical visualization of the data through maps and charts, showing the distribution of incidents across Greek regions, monthly chronological breakdown, and information on solved versus unsolved cases. It also provides historical and legal background on the institutional framework protecting religious freedom in Greece.
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