ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos has pledged to raise clerics’ pay so that they are not forced to work second jobs.
The reform-minded Prelate aims to increase wages across the board and create a fairer system inside the Church.
To make ends meet, some men of the cloth are forced to work as carpenters, blacksmiths or even construction workers.
“This is unacceptable. A priest cannot work at a construction site and keep company with any Tom, Dick and Harry there,” Chrysostomos said yesterday.
He said a number of clergy had taken up teaching to supplement their income, even though this was in contravention of Church rules.
Though this concerned very few individuals, the Archbishop said he was determined to stamp out moonlighting.
“Even these few priests create a cacophony within a bishopric. And understandably the rest of the clerics tend to complain about this.
“Ideally, everyone should spend all their time in their parish, seeing to their duties.”
He said he would be meeting with bishops in early September, “so as to forge a single policy” on the matter.
The issue would also be discussed at the next session of the Holy Synod, the Church’s top decision-making body.
And he warned the new policy would be strictly enforced, especially among monks.
“If there is someone who does not wish to comply, then they should best leave their bishopric. Teaching should be left to the laity.”
According to Chrysostomos, presently there are two kinds of monks: those who receive pay and those who don’t.
“Monks need to be paid something for personal expenses. I can understand that. But they cannot be paid a teacher’s wages. Monks are toilers, they do not own property.”
Chrysostomos even proposed amending the Church charter, by deleting from it a chapter dealing with monk’s property.
“This chapter should be stricken off because monks are not allowed to own property. If someone wants to become a monk, they must give away all their property to their relatives, or to the poor, or whoever they want,” he said.
But the Archbishop promised that clerics’ wages would be increased gradually, so that in three to five years they would be on a “satisfactory level”.
Despite the new rules, Chrysostomos said he would not be dogmatic in their enforcement and that some members of the cloth would be allowed to continue teaching under certain conditions.
“When a cleric gets £500 or £600 a month, and has five children to raise, how can he possibly cope?” the Archbishop mused.
