Historical Archives of the Church of Greece (IAEE)
ORGANIZATION - OPERATION
Background
The decision of the Church of Greece to proclaim itself autocephalous on its own judgement (1833) by the same token essentially constituted the founding act of the Historical Archives of the Church of Greece, although the formal foundation of the latter came in 1850, with the issuance of the Patriarchal and Synodical Tomos by means of which the status of autocephaly was granted to the Church of Greece.
As soon as the Church of Greece was established, its administrative and pastoral activity was launched, at the levels of both central administration and local Metropolitanates, and so was the production of documents, namely archival material, in the forms of minutes kept from the sittings of the Holy Synod, encyclicals issued, correspondence maintained with state services etc.
As time went by and Greek territories formerly occupied by the Turks were liberated, the scope of jurisdiction of the Church of Greece expanded, and so did the volume of the documents produced as a result thereof.
At times there were decisions made during sittings of the Holy Synod regarding the operation of the Historical Archives of the Church, as preserved in the minutes kept from those sittings.
Regulation
In 2013 the Holy Synod adopted Regulation no. 248/2103 submitted by IAEE on the foundation and functioning of the Historical Archives of the Church of Greece (Hellenic Government Gazette issue no. 286Α/30.12.2013).
This Regulation stipulates the main aspects of the operation of the Historical Archives : their structure, the qualifications required and the competences of their staff, archival policy, programme and standards, designation of records as historical archives, obtention of such archives, and management of permanent archives. Matters regarding the acquisition of archives owned by third parties, the processing, copying and preservation of historical archives, as well as the Committee of Evaluation of Historical Archives and cataloguing are also regulated, while provisions are made for the access to be granted to historians and researchers and the services to be made available to them, the authorization by the Director, the historical information to be supplied about the Church, the funding of expenses, the books to be kept, access codes, the e-mail address and the entry into force of the Regulation.
Contents of the archival material
Timewise, the archival material extends from the beginnings of the 19th century to the end of the 20th, while there are also isolated older documents.
All this is mainly in the form of unbound documents and codices.
As regards the contents of unbound documents, these mainly regard matters from all areas pertaining to holy Metropolitanates: bishop-related, administrative, ordinations, parochial, pastoral, monastic, Offices granted, deaths, matrimonial (including divorces), complaints.
Apart from matters relating to Metropolitanates, there are also documents pertaining to general synodical, regulatory and nomocanonical issues, as well as to subjects relating to Patriarchates, autocephalous Churches, ecclesiastic jurisdictions, inter-Christian and interreligious dialogues, education, employment, preachers, pastoral ministry, charity, national causes, wars, patriarchal and synodical epistles etc.
The codices mainly contain registers of incoming and outgoing documents and minutes of sittings of the Standing Holy Synod and of the Holy Synod of the Hierarchy.
Premises
As of 2013 the History Archives of the Church of Greece is housed in a Church-owned building at 68, Deinokratous Street, postal code 115 21, Athens, Greece.
Structure - Organizational Chart
The Historical Archives are a Synodical Service accountable to the Chief Secretariat of the Holy Synod.
The Director of the Historical Archives of the Church of Greece is Mr Basil Tzerpos, Dr Th.
Staff : Mr Panaghiotis Anghelopoulos, M.Th.,
Mr Photios Papagheorghiou, M.Th., B.Phil.,
Mr Gheorghios Anghelopoulos, Ms Maria Lymaraki.
Access by researchers
Admittance to the Historical Archives of the Church of Greece may be granted to researchers upon request; the latter shall be submitted to the Chief Secretariat and subsequently a written permission shall be issued by the Holy Synod once such request has been duly considered in one of the regular sittings of the Standing Holy Synod.
The request shall contain the details of the applicant and the subject of the research as well as (a) a letter of reference from the respective Bishop, (b) a letter of reference from the supervising Professor or a certificate from the Secretariat of the relevant Department, if it concerns a student.
Please click
here to find the standard form of the application to be submitted to the Chief Secretariat for permission to carry out research in the Historical Archives.
SERVICES
Reading Room Code of Conduct
Access of researchers to the archival material is free, under the procedure stipulated in Article 18 of the Regulation of the Historical Archives.
Researchers who, in the past, have disrespected the procedure or, having used archival material, have subsequently failed to submit their publications in two copies in duplicate or have mishandled or otherwise abused archival material shall be denied access in the future.
Archival material shall be available from 9am to 2pm.
IAEE shall remain closed on religious and national holidays when Synodical Services will also remain closed, as well as on the days provided for by the Code of Etiquette of the Holy Synod.
Access is possible solely after prior communication with IAEE staff by telephone and upon display of the written permission for research issued by the Holy Synod.
Research into archival material is mainly carried out on computers and only exceptionally is access allowed to the physical items. Software comprising catalogues and indices is provided on IAEE computers for the convenience of researchers.
Smoking or eating is not allowed in the premises.
The use of pens or mobile telephones is not allowed, whereas portable personal computers, paper and pencils may be used, provided that these shall not disturb other readers nor unethically interfere with the electronic systems of the premises nor cause damage to archival material. Personal belongings should be kept at a distance from the work area of the researcher, in a specially indicated area of IAEE.
The archival material requested is delivered by IAEE staff. Admittance to the Stacks is not allowed to researchers.
Compliance with the Rules of Operation of the Reading Room, the Regulation of the Historical Archives and the guidelines and instructions provided by IAEE staff is a sine qua non prerequisite for the use of archival material to be permitted.
It is strictly forbidden to cause any damage or alteration to archival material or, in the case of unbound material, to disrupt the order in which documents are kept.
The Direction and the Staff reserve the right to inspect any data collected by researchers.
Researchers shall submit two copies of their work to IAEE, free of charge, once such work has been published. Failing to do so will result in their being declined any access to IAEE for research should they request such access in the future.
Copying and printing policy
Digital copies of archival material may be granted up to a maximum limit of fifty (50). The copies are provided on a digital disk with a virtual watermark for the purpose of protecting IAEE intellectual property rights. Photocopies shall not be allowed.
Researchers wishing to obtain digital copies shall submit an application to be approved by the Direction on a case-by-case basis.
Researchers wishing to obtain copies of archival material for publication shall submit an “Application for copies to be granted for publication” and only if written permission of the Direction is ensured is the publication of such material allowed, provided that it will be duly acknowledged and referred to. IAEE has the copyright of archival material, and this is why any copies provided shall be electronically watermarked.
Photography is allowed only in exceptional circumstances and only after communication with the Direction or IAEE staff.
Researchers are responsible for the observance of the current legislation regarding personal data protection.
PRACTICE FOR STUDENTS
The Historical Archives have cooperated for many years with higher education institutions both in Greece and abroad for the purposes of ensuring opportunities for practice to be carried out by students, whether this is practice paid from European or national funds through the ATLAS online service (http://atlas.grnet.gr) or on a voluntary basis. At the end of the practice a Certificate of successful completion is awarded. Tasks carried out by students indicatively include : arranging / classifying documents (chronologically, thematically or alphabetically), filling in description cards with fields such as code number, author, title, contents, date, comments, etc.
The General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD-G) is applied during archival work.
Qualifications indicatively required of students : knowledge of palæography and/or archival science, fluent reading skills of 19th-century fonts, sense of responsibility, respect for archival material, scholarly spirit.
COMMUNICATION
68, Deinokratous Street, Postal Code 115 21, Athens, Greece.
telephone numbers : 0030-213-0234-484 or 0030-213-0235-720.