In the halls of Strasbourg, where Europe presents itself as the guardian of human rights, a quiet but systemic deviation recently took place.
With Resolution 2643 (2026), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) did not merely attempt to regulate the social behaviors of Europeans, but to invade the most sacred and private space of the human being: religious conscience and free spiritual communication.
For NIKI, this issue is not a simple ideological disagreement. It is a methodical attempt to criminalize Orthodox spiritual life, which forces us to ask a critical question:
How free is a society that fears prayer?
How did we reach the point where Strasbourg is discussing the criminalization of spiritual advice? The journey began with the reasonable condemnation of brutal medical practices, which no sane-thinking person accepts. However, along the way, the definition of conversion practices expanded dangerously.
Under the pressure of specific lobbies, the targeting shifted to the religious sphere. Spiritual guidance, the sacrament of confession, and prayer were labeled as “interventions.” The key word now being used is repressing – a term that turns the Christian spiritual struggle for self-restraint into a criminal offense.
Resolution 2643 is shockingly clear. In paragraph 4.2, it stipulates that member states must ban these practices in “every setting… including religious and private ones.” The State now claims the right to place a thought-policeman inside the confessional.
A combined reading of the official texts (Doc. 16315) reveals a grim reality:
a) Prayer as an illegal ritual: Spiritual and religious rituals are equated with violence.
b) The abolition of consent: Even if an adult believer voluntarily seeks the advice of their spiritual father, the resolution stipulates that the prohibition applies regardless of whether the individual has consented.
This is the absolute devaluation of human freedom.
Here, a major political issue arises for our national representation. Greece is represented at PACE by seven regular members: Dora Bakoyannis, Theodoros Roussopoulos, Evripidis Stylianidis, Maria Syrengela, George Papandreou, Alexis Tsipras, and Liana Kanelli.
These individuals bear the historical responsibility to defend Article 13 of the Greek Constitution, which defines the inviolability of religious conscience. How did they ensure that the Orthodox spiritual tradition would not be targeted as torture? Their silence or their tolerance for the adoption of such texts creates a deep institutional rift with the Greek people. Our representatives must take a public stance: Do they consider prayer an illegal act?
For NIKI, religious freedom is not a bureaucratic footnote, but the foundation of democracy. The attempt to equate spiritual guidance with torture is an insult that offends the history and identity of our people.
How are human rights protected when free spiritual communication between a believer and a spiritual advisor is prohibited?
NIKI will under no circumstances allow the incorporation of such totalitarian provisions into the Greek legal order. Freedom of conscience is non-negotiable.
Christodoulos Molyvas
Head of the Development and Investment Policy Department of NIKI
