A total of 608 acts of violence, vandalism and other criminal offences were recorded at religious places of worship and shrines in Greece in 2024, with the vast majority – 591 – directed against Orthodox churches and chapels.
Eastern Orthodoxy is by far the predominate religion in the east Mediterranean country and enshrined, in fact, in the constitution.
All types of offenses are recorded, including, burglary, theft, robbery, vandalism at cemeteries and graves, arson and other forms of desecration, according to a dispatch by Ertnews.gr, the state broadcaster’s website.
The highest number of incidents, 146, were recorded in the greater Athens-Piraeus area and 121 in central Macedonia prefecture, which includes the greater Thessaloniki area. The latter two regions host more than half of the country population of roughly 11 million people.
The large island of Crete, in somewhat of a surprise, comes in an unenviable third in terms of such recorded incidents, with 49.
The figures were compiled by a religious freedom and inter-religious department of the education and religious affairs ministry. The relevant report, in Greek, and entitled “Incidents against religious sites in Greece” is located at the ministry’s website: https://www.minedu.gov.gr/publications/docs2023/Έκθεση_2023.pdf
