Orthodox and Protestant church leaders cooperate to reach the Greeks with the Gospel
16-10-2025
Southern Europe
Michiel Bakker, RD
A man reads in a Greek Bible. Photo Facebook, Ελληνική Βιβλική Εταιρία - Hellenic Bible Society
Southern Europe
All Greeks need the Gospel. Driven by this desire, volunteers in the Greek city of Volos distributed 65,000 New Testaments door-to-door. The project arose from a special collaboration between a Protestant minister and a Greek Orthodox bishop.
Mgr. Metropolitan Ignatios and pastor Meletis Meletiadis sit side by side at the table for an interview via Teams. While in many places there is no contact between the large Greek Orthodox parish and small Protestant churches, the two have been working together for years.
Mgr. Ignatios lives in Volos, a city in central Greece with a population of 160,000. He is responsible for the diocese of Demetrias, which comprises 160 parishes and approximately 200 priests. He is also chairman of the Greek Bible Society, in which Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants work together.
Pastor Meletiadis is chairman of the executive committee of this Bible society. He is affiliated with the Greek Evangelical Church in Volos. This Protestant congregation, with a Reformed character, has approximately seventy members from various nationalities.
“Among them are Greeks, but also a few women from the Netherlands, Germany, Finland and England who married Greek men”, says the pastor. “Another group consists of Albanian refugees, most of whom have a Muslim background. They came here in the 1990s, were welcomed with open arms, started reading the Bible, accepted Jesus as their Saviour and were baptised.”
“People need to encounter Christ, and we encounter Him in the Gospel. That is what matters.”
Door-to-door
The pastor, former president of the synod of the Greek Evangelical Church, has a desire to share the Gospel with others. “Greece was evangelised by the Apostle Paul 2,000 years ago. It is a Christian country, but we have reached a point where many of our people, even though they were born into Orthodox families and baptised in Orthodox churches, are ignorant of the Christian faith. There is also a great deal of syncretism in Greece. People need to be re-evangelised.”
In the Greek context, evangelism is not easy, pastor Meletiadis knows. “Most residents, 98 per cent, belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. When we Protestants distribute Bibles or tracts, some priests feel that we are intruding on their flock and trying to persuade people to become Protestants. I understand that, but that is not my intention. People need to encounter Christ, and we encounter Him in the Gospel. That is what matters.”
With this in mind, pastor Meletiadis sought cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Church several years ago. “The best way to re-evangelise is to give people exactly what Paul did the first time: the Gospel”, he says. This led to the plan to distribute New Testaments door-to-door.
That idea resonated with Bishop Ignatios. “We are privileged that the New Testament was written in our language, but that was 2,000 years ago. Most people have a Bible or New Testament in their homes alongside icons, in a language they do not understand. If they have a book they understand, they will read it”, says the bishop.
In the early 1980s, the Greek Bible Society published a translation of the New Testament that the Greek Orthodox Church recognised. Bishop Ignatios and Reverend Meletiadis decided to join forces to distribute it to all households in the department of Magnesia, of which Volos is the capital.
Local parish church
Pastor Meletiadis calls the collaboration “a miracle, a blessing from God for which we are grateful. We work from a common foundation: the Gospel and our faith in Jesus.”
Since 2021, around ten volunteers set out to distribute New Testaments every Sunday afternoon from October to April – “It’s too hot during the other months”. They come from the small Greek Evangelical congregation in Volos, as well as other Protestant churches in Greece and abroad.
The approach is always the same. Volunteers fill bags provided by the diocese with a New Testament. Bishop Ignatios informs the local priests in advance when these publications will be distributed in their parishes. The starting point is always the local parish church, where the priest receives a special leather-bound New Testament. “Many priests are encouraged by this initiative,” says Bishop Ignatios. “They realise that they are not alone.”
The bags are not handed out to residents in person, but hung on their doors or left at the entrance to their homes, “as a gift from the bishop to his flock”, says Rev. Meletiadis. To date, 65,000 New Testaments have been distributed in this way. With the exception of the last parish, this means that the entire department of Magnesia has been reached.
How did residents react to the distribution of the New Testaments?
Mgr. Ignatios: “Many were very surprised to receive this from the diocese. They thought that only Jehovah’s Witnesses distributed Bibles. They also found it remarkable to hear that we collaborate with Christians from different countries.”
“Many people follow the bishop’s Bible studies on YouTube. I have listened to them too and think they are wonderful.”
Did you also receive critical responses about this project and the collaboration between the two churches?
Mgr. Ignatios: “In Volos and the surrounding area, this does not cause any problems. We have succeeded in convincing our people that this cooperation has brought many benefits.”
Rev. Meletiadis: “I always go along when Bibles are being distributed. A few times, people came up to us and returned the New Testament to us. That was no more than 50 out of the 65,000 we distributed. Some said they were not interested in the Christian faith. We then took the bag back and kindly wished them God’s blessing.”
Do you have any idea whether people will actually read the New Testament?
Mgr. Ignatios: “We have heard many reports from people who have indeed started reading it because they can understand this translation. Some started reading the Bible individually, others as a family.”
Pastor Meletiadis: “Of course, there will also be people who put it on the bookshelf and leave it there. But God says, “My Word will not return to Me empty.” If it is there, perhaps someone in the next generation will pick up the New Testament and start reading it.”
Rev. Meletiadis: “Many people follow the bishop’s Bible studies on YouTube. I have listened to them too and think they are wonderful.” With a broad smile: “And I say that as a Protestant, Reformed Christian.”
Will the project be continued?
Mgr. Ignatios: “One of the results of this project is that bishops in other parts of Greece also want to offer New Testaments door-to-door in their dioceses. In Karditsa, 100 kilometres west of Volos, we hope to start doing so in November. Other bishops are also interested.”
This article was translated by CNE.news and published by the Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad on October 13, 2025
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