Well, OK, so I exaggerrated a bit. But not by much. Depending on which archbishop you listen to, you’ll hear various descriptions of Jews, from ‘children of God’ to ‘fanged, horned, bloodsucking beasts from Hell.’ The general perception of Jews in the Church is not at all positive.

"the spawn of Satan" I seriously didn’t know that. I know the Greek Orthodox church says some very unsavoury things but that…. ahhh. Is this a generally accepted description or is it just from the likes of the big boss man, what’s his name? Sorry, can’t bring myself to mention his name. He gives me the creeps.

I don’t think the Jews in Greece are fearful. The Jews I know here don’t really consider their Jewishness an issue. If there was active discrimination against them in business or the public sector, it would make a difference. But there isn’t much. There is a vocal minority of far-right bigots who love to provoke and score points based on half-remembered prejudice. Most Greeks couldn’t care less, and it’s considered extremely coarse to make Jewish jokes in polite company.

Interesting comments from Lynn Gazis-Sax (welcome, by the way) and Scarf+. I am woefully ignorant about religious details so I cannot add anything about  the Pantokrator, but would be fascinated to hear more? I do however agree that in Greece the crux of the matter is political game-playing and the need for separation of church and state. I think the necessity of recording religion on birth certificates changed about 10 years ago. My son who was born here has no religion recorded on his or on his school registration. We were asked what religion he was but no-one had a problem with us saying "none". It has also been many years since Orthodox religious instruction has been compulsory in school. There are however Greek Orthodox icons in all state work places, offices, classrooms and courts. There is still an incredible confusion with the general population who see religion and nationality as intertwined and inseperable. Some people have commented here and said, words to the effect of,  there is no difference between being Greek and being Greek Orthodox. Anti-semitic feelings are absolutely rife here. It is common to here derogatory remarks made about Jews. Almost daily and quite openly and loudly. This is a major issue here that needs to be addressed. While there are still textbooks in school depicting "the sly evil Jew"  I cannot see how this issue can be tackled. I agree Scarf+, the Jewish community could be more vocal. Perhaps they are not because of fear ? (cemmentries and synagogues are still being defaced and vandelised here). There is an Jewish organisation in Thessalonki that has a website but the last time I went there, it was full of dead links and hadn’t been updated for months. If I find it again I will post again.Thanks for the continuing discussion here. Always good to have something to think about.

Another thing - the Muslim minority in Greece is changing extremely quickly. It’s quite likely that the Turkish-speaking & Pomak & Roma Muslim minorities are outnumbered by Muslim immigrants from outside Europe, whose agendas are very different.

Good post LG-S. I’d be interested to see if anyone can answer your questions. But here’s a couple of thoughts.

I don’t get why Greek government policies regarding Greek rabbis should have anything to do with the policies of Turkey or Israel. They’re Greek citizens. They’re not responsible for the legacy of Ataturk, or the invasion and occupation of Cyprus, and not even, just because they’re Jewish, for the policies of Israel.

[...] DeviousDiva: Jewish Rights In Greece Did you know that the Greek government pays the salaries of priests and imams - but not rabbis? That to build a new synagogue requires permission from a high-ranking priest? I didn’t, either. Holy crap. [...]

Saudi Arabia does fund the building of mosques all over the world, not out of charitable largess, but as a way to spread their particularly strict version of Islam. While I don’t generally agree with governments footing the bill for any type of religious institution, I don’t see asking Saudi Arabia to foot the bill as a good option either. I discussed this issue with a group of Muslims at an informal basement mosque in Athens, and the people there all agreed that they would prefer funding from the Greek government than from Saudi Arabia (as I understand it, the Greek government pays for the religious institutions of the established Muslim minority in Thraki, but has not yet funded a mosque for the immigrant community in Athens).

Does the Pantocrater count as an icon of God?

Michael, the worship of the specific ‘Jewish’ YAHWEH god is an amalgamation of a number of gods, that were consolidated into one, that came from Babylonia. The worship of god(s) (note with a little g) does go back to ‘caveman’ times. All people worshipped gods or divinity.  
Christ was a Jewish Rabbi according to the Gospels (although John is more explicit on his divinity) who had a particular dislike of the Jewish authorities. According to the Jewish Talmud he was born illegitimately of a Jewish mother, Miriam, and a Greek soldier stationed in the Roman army, Panthera. According to Roman sources he was irrelevant. Accoring to Church authorities his ethnicity is not really irrelevant. ‘Neither Jew or Greek’ the the Gospels state.
You will not see icons of God because Orthodox teachings say that you cannot visualise the divine as you can Christ as it did not become flesh. The divine being cloud of unknowing which you might be familiar if you read Dionysius Areopagite, Gregory of Nyssa, Peter Damascene and so on.

Hermes, regarding your comment to me about Jews:
You said: "But the Jews do not worship a Jewish god either. Their god came from the Babylonians"
Well, Mr. Hermes, We are not talking about God (Whose worship comes from caveman times) but about Christ who was a Jew. You don’t see icons of God in Orthodox churches but we DO SEE Christ, the Jewess Miriam, and the twelve Jew disciples, all people who actually lived.

ZARDOZ SAYS:

How did the Kosovar Albanians find the money to build over 50 new mosques and gymnasia in the last five years? I thought they were destitute? There is definitely is not bundles of mineral wealth popping out of the Kosovar soil. And it is common knowledge that a lot of the funding for the resurgence of Judaism in Eastern Europe, Russia and many other places comes from worldwide Jewish organisations. I am not begrudging them this. Nearly every diaspora nation does it. Even the Greeks do this for the Pontian Greeks remaining in the Ukraine , Uzbekistan and Russia. And how do you think the Patriarchate survives in Constantinople? Turks are not donating money. So what makes you think that some of that largesse does not find its way into Jewish and Muslim hands in Hellas.
I do not believe the Greek taxpayers should be made to pay the bills where there is definitely enough money coming in from other sources.  
Christianity, which includes Orthodoxy, is an Abrahamic religion.

Gosh Hermes, would you care to provide evidence of those assertions? It’s news to me that Greek Muslims are awash with petrodollars and that Greek Jews are subsidized by their rich American bretheren. As for your last statement, unless it was a joke, Greek Orthodoxy hardly qualifies as an enlightened, modern religion but its clerics are quite suspicious and resentful nevertheless.