Greece pledges to protect heritage of Jerusalem Patriarchate

Athens, September 11, 2026

jerusalem-patriarchate.info jerusalem-patriarchate.info

Greece’s Parliament has secured long-term funding to protect the cultural heritage of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, ratifying a memorandum that channels €1 million (about $1.1 million) a year into preservation projects.

Lawmakers approved the bill on September 9, formalizing an agreement that Greece’s Foreign Ministry, Culture Ministry, and the Patriarchate had signed back in June. The deal runs for ten years, with room to extend if both sides agree after a joint review. Each year’s funding comes from equal contributions by the two ministries and goes toward specific projects agreed on in writing, reports Orthodoxia.info.

The framework covers a wide range of the Patriarchate’s holdings: holy shrines, churches, and monastery complexes, artwork and relics, and also the Historical Archive and the Patriarchal Library.

Planned work includes scientific and technical studies, conservation and restoration projects, digital mapping and documentation of monuments and movable relics, and the preservation and digitization of manuscripts and printed materials.

All of the work will respect the Patriarchate’s historical, administrative, and canonical independence, with the Patriarchate setting priorities in cooperation with the two ministries.

Among the next steps already under discussion are the protection and restoration of the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre complex in Plaka and the Byzantine church of Goumenissa in Ilia, along with the documentation and digitization of sacred relics held at the Patriarchate’s metochia across Greece.

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9/11/2026

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