The European Jewish Congress (EJC) called Wednesday for the Greek Orthodox church to remove the Metropolite of Piraeus, Seraphim, after the high-ranking priest sounded an anti-Semitic rant on Greek TV.
Speaking on the morning show on Mega-TV, the largest television station in Greece, Seraphim blamed world Jewry for Greece's financial problems.
"Mixing Freemasons with Jewish bankers such as Baron Rothschild and world Zionism, the Metropolite said that there is a conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy," JTA reported. He also accused "international Zionism" of trying to destroy the family unit by promoting one-parent families and same-sex marriages.
Thirteen minutes into the program the host asked Seraphim, "Why do you disagree with Hitler's policies? If they are doing all this, wasn't he right in burning them?"
The Metropolite answered, "Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire."
Jews such as "Rockefeller, Rothschild and Soros control the international banking system that controls globalization," he said.
Salonika's Metropolite Anthimos has preached similar ideas from his pulpit.
"I felt disgust hearing the Metropolite of Piraeus expressing himself like that against world Zionism, and shamelessly saying that Hitler with the help of Jewish bankers did what he did," Benjamin Albala, president of the Athens Jewish community, told JTA.
EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor was unequivocal in his condemnation. “It is completely unacceptable that someone senior in a mainstream European religious denomination can make such repulsive and hate-filled claims,” he said. “That they were said so openly on national television demonstrates that there are those who feel no shame expressing these views in front of a wide audience.”
“European nations and the European Union must immediately pass robust legislation to ban and sanction anti-Semitism in all its forms and at all levels. This rant proves that the discredited views of the twentieth century are apparently alive and well within areas of Europe and this needs to be addressed immediately.”
“We call on the Greek government to implement its laws against such hate-speech and the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church to immediately remove this person from his position.”
In 2010, Seraphim asked Queen Elizabeth II to divest pop singer Sir Elton John of his knighthood for uttering blasphemy, after John said that Jesus was a homosexual.