The World - News from March 15, 1987

The Greek government said it would go ahead with plans to take over the part of the property of about 150 monasteries, ignoring angry reaction from the leadership of the influential Orthodox Church. “We won’t concede an inch,” newspapers quoted Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou as saying. Archbishop Seraphim, the Orthodox primate of Greece, said he would “fight” the draft bill. The legislation foresees the state taking over about 400,000 acres of farming land and forests with an estimated value of more than $200 million. The bill does not let the state take over millions of dollars worth of church property in the cities.