'Byzantine-rite Calvinists' in Greece?

Although the vast majority of the people of Greece are at least nominal members of the Orthodox Church, there are two very much smaller denominations in that country which claim the evangelical label. The larger of the two is the Greek Evangelical Church (GEC), which is a Reformed church holding membership in both the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).



Here is a description of this group from the REC's website:

The Greek Evangelical Church traces its beginnings to 1858, when a young convert began publishing a weekly newspaper and started a bible study. The newspaper, Star of the East (Astir Tis Anatolis) is still the official monthly of the GEC and is the oldest publication in Greece. In 1924 the congregations formed a synod, and adopted its present name in 1938.

The GEC divides its 29 congregations into two regional synods in Greece and one in North America. It counts about 6,000 members and regular attenders. There are currently seven preaching stations and several house meetings. With only 17 ordained pastors, several smaller rural GEC congregations are led by elders. The GEC added two new urban congrega tions in 1996, but the rural congregations are struggling with declining and aging populations. The GEC conducts a cautious, but active evangelism program and maintains a missionary outreach in Albania.

The GEC is a Reformed church, with a modified form of the Westminster Confession and the Nicene Creed as its main doctrinal standards.

The GEC, though small, is the largest Protestant church in Greece. The vast majority of Greeks are members of the Greek Orthodox Church, though few are active. One of the challenges in Greece is to witness to this secularized population without breaking the Greek laws against proselytism. They encourage personal witness by their members, but also operate two centers for drug and alcohol addicts. The GEC has an active youth movement and youth camp.

Its confessional standards include the Nicene Creed and the Confession of Faith of the Greek Evangelical Church. It is noteworthy that the GEC follows the Orthodox Church in (1) omitting the filioque clause from the Creed, and (2) making no reference to either the Apostles' Creed or the Athanasian Creed, which are unknown in the christian east. How the Greek Evangelicals worship from one sunday to the next I do not know. Whether they manifest any Orthodox influence in their liturgy I cannot say.

There is a smaller group of evangelical Christians styling themselves the Free Evangelical Churches of Greece, which are more separatistic and bear some similarity to the Plymouth Brethren and similar groups elsewhere. We had some contact with this group when we stayed at the building of the Hellenic Scripture Union near Athens ten years ago. Since such groups typically tend to dispense with written creeds and confessions, the filioque issue may lie beyond their concerns. I suspect that the Free Evangelicals have at least some connection with the Greek Bible Institute associated with the Greater Europe Mission, whose American headquarters were once located in my hometown of Wheaton, Illinois.