Howard Fischer
Uppsala, Sweden

While much is known about funeral customs in ancient Greece, the particulars of burial in modern Greece have received little outside attention.

Today, one half of the population of Greece lives in the two largest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki. There is not enough space in big urban centers to conduct burials that one might call “permanent.” After a death, the friends or relatives of the deceased rent a burial plot for a period of three-to-five-years. Depending on the cemetery, this costs between US $650–1,500. Wealthy relatives may purchase outright the burial plot for $19,000–120,000. The per capita income in Greece in 2022 was $20,000. The renters may have the option of extending the lease for another year for about $2,000.

After the lease expires, the body is exhumed. The relatives are required to be present at the exhumation. At this time the bodies are usually not yet decomposed (into a skeleton), and relatives are presented with this disturbing sight. The remains are put into graves for “undecayed” bodies. The tombstones are recycled into public works. After about six months, it is hoped that the body is more decomposed. The remaining soft tissues are then removed and the skeleton is placed in an individually-marked ossuary, usually a metal or marble container. The exhumation costs $350. The rental of the ossuary is about $60 per year. If family or friends are not able or willing to pay the ossuary rental fee, the bones are dissolved in a pit containing a chemical solution. Nothing remains.

In Greece, Greek Orthodox Christianity is the recognized state religion. The church opposes cremation on the grounds that intact burial (but not cremation) prepares the body for resurrection. It maintains that cremation is foreign, and for “pagans, agnostics, and atheists.” Greece and Cyprus are the only European countries that have historically opposed cremation.

In 1943, and again in 1944, the Physicians’ Association of Athens asked for the legalization of cremation. The proposals were rejected. Various citizen groups and associations since the 1970s have asked for the legal cremation of corpses. In 2006, a law was passed allowing for cremation of those whose religious beliefs allowed cremation.

There were, however, no crematoria in Greece. Outside of Greece, the other major branch of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, permitted cremation for Catholics in 1963. Greek bodies were sent to Bulgaria, the closest country allowing cremation. The cost was $2,500. It costs $6,000 to have it done in Germany. About five percent of Greeks want to be cremated. For comparison, 75% of Danes are cremated.

Proponents of cremation claim that the Orthodox Church is resisting because the current approach provides profits for undertakers, florists, the Church, and the municipalities that rent out the plots. Also, the Orthodox clergy is paid by the government. The Greek Cremation Society was started in 1997, and in 2019 the first crematorium in Greece was built. A cremation costs about $800.

Optimists believe that the church may modify its position based on “the needs and the culture of the people.”

Sources

1. Richard Boudreaux. “Rest isn’t eternal for most Greeks.” Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1999.
2. Gordana Blagojevic. “Problems of burial in modern Greece: Between customs, law and economy.” Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta, 61(1), 2013.
3. Stephanie Studer. “Modern Greek tragedies.” Medium, June 23, 2020. https://medium.com/@stephaniestuder/modern-greek-tragedy-a96d2db18fd3
4. Zoe Holman. ”Burning bones,” New Humanist, January 28, 2021. https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5746/burning-bones