Orthodox monasteries in Greece are obliged to pay property taxes (ENFIA) for properties they own, excluding ones used as places of worship or for charitable purposes, a plenum of Council of State (CoS) justices has ruled.
The ruling affects properties owned both by the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
A wide majority of justices rejected an appeal by a monastery in Halkidiki prefecture, in northern Greece, to be excluded from the property tax. The monastery, Aghia (St.) Anastasia was imposed a tax of nearly 260,000 euros in 2014 for its real estate possessions.
