www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Queen Sophia of Spain: Byzantine Catholic Monarch

With the visit of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, to Spain this past weekend, my thoughts focused on Queen Sophia of Spain.

Queen Sophia is originally a Greek princess of the now exiled Greek royal family. She was also a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. She married the then Prince Juan Carlos of Spain on May 14, 1962 in Athens. The couple was married in both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox cathedrals in Athens. An account of their wedding can be read at: www.eurohistory.com/JuanSophia.html [eurohistory.com]

At some point, Queen Sophia became Catholic. Does anyone know what year that occurred? Has she ever talked about why she became Catholic?


The royal family of Spain is considered to be one of the most well respected monarchs of the world. The King and Queen live modestly for being royals and are practicing Catholics. Although Queen Sophia attends Roman Catholic liturgical services, she most certainly can be regarded as being Byzantine Catholic since she was originally Greek Orthodox.

Does anyone have any further information on her conversion to Catholicism? Has she ever attended any Byzantine Catholic services either in Spain or in Greece?

As far as I know, there are no Byzantine Catholic chapels in Spain and if she attended a Byzantine Catholic Church in Greece, the riot would still be going on.

The Queen has the 'Privilege de Blanc' (one of four people in the world), therefore she must be formally a Catholic.

Axios

I watched some of the celebrations. Beforehand, I had forgotten about the formerly-Orthodox queen, but as soon as I saw her, my memory became clearer. I must admit, inwardly I was beeming at such a high-profile Orthodox figure embracing the Catholic Faith. (ooohh, I'm gonna get hell for this!)

Oh, BTW, Griego, there was a thread on this very topic awhile back (though I don't think it began as such...thus the problem with changing topics in one thread); I believe around Sep-Oct of last year. You could try and find it in the long-lost back pages.

Logos Teen

Well, she may formally have to be a Catholic but she may very well keep her Orthodox Faith in her heart

It could be Brian. And we may well have had Greek and Russian royals who were Lutherans in their hearts!

Axios

Dear Griego Catolico,

These royals are so intriguing. We hear almost nothing about them in the U.S.
I have a photo of their crowning, but it is not of good enough quality to scan in.

As you said about their modesty they must not attract the media's twisted attention.

As Logos Teen said there was a thread on the forum about them some time back, As I recall there was not alot of detail about the Spanish royal couple.

Our friend from Spain, Francisco, could be of help. I hope he still checks in with the forum.

I will stay tuned.

Christ's peace,

Paul

Actually, Queen Sophia was required to become Catholic in order to marry Prince Juan Carlos. It was the same with Prince Philip in the UK, when Archbishop Temple (I think) insisted on his conversion to the Anglican faith. The same can be applied with Dagmar and Alex of Denmark upon their marriages into the Russian Royal Family (or lest we forget that grand-dame Catherine the Great). Logos may be happy that such a high ranking Orthodox person converted [ ] but equally, we can can praise Tsar "Foxy" Ferdinard of Bulgaria for baptising Prince Boris into the correct faith.........even though the Pope was spluttering in anger!




Anton

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ
ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ


1. Princess Sophia of Greece became member of the Catholic Church after his arrival to Spain after her weding in Athens with prince Juan Carlos of Spain in 1962.
2. Her "convertion" to Catholicim took place in a privaze ceremony at the chapel of their residence of the Palacio de la Zarzuela. The ceremony was presided by the Archbishop of the Armed Forces if I am not wrong.
3. She is member of the (Latin) Church of Spain and she does not belong to any Eastern Catholic Chuch.
4. There is no reference to the 'Privilege de Blanc' in the democratic Spanish Constitution of 1978
5. The spiritual and catechetical praparation for the royal wedding was assumed by the for 30 years chaplain of the Spanish embassy in Athens, father Irineos, a Greek byzantine rite priest and hero of the resistence during the II European War who found refugee for a lot of of Hebrew families during German ocupation.

Dear Friends,

Royalty have intermarried for centuries and have changed Churches for that long too.

St Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv's daughters were all married to Western European Royalty - one daughter was Queen of France, married, I believe, to King Henri I.

One of the patrons of Bavaria is St Edigna who happens to be the great granddaughter of St Volodymyr of Kyiv.

Prince Philip himself embraced Anglicanism when he married you-know-who .

Today he has returned to Orthodoxy and Prince Michael of Kent is Orthodox too.

But Prince Philip's royal family was not "Greek" even though the Hohenzollerns were invited to assume the Throne of Greece for a while.

He was of Germanic background, as was St Alexandra and St Elizabeth Romanov, both former Lutherans.

Royalty has never made a tremendous fuss over these issues.

When a Protestant future King of France was offered the throne on condition he become a Catholic, he agreed saying that "Paris is worth a Mass."

Queen Sophia became a formal Roman Catholic, just as the daughters of St Yaroslav the Wise did when they married into Western European Royalty.

Alex

Dear AntonI:

Poor prince Boris was terrified beyond words at his Orthodox confirmation.

He cried throughout the service and at the end ran home to his mother who was in utter despair at the situation.

Boris had been originally Baptized in the Roman Catholic faith of his Parents.

His mother who was a very pious Italian Princess was extremely aggrieved that his father was forcing this thing upon the child.

She sincerely believed that he was imperiling her son's soul.

She had a difficult marriage to Ferdinand and died heartbroken at an early age.

I believe that if Ferdinand had made clear his intentions beforehand she would never have married him.

Ferdinand tried to get Pope Leo XIII to agree to the Orthodox confirmation, but the Pope could not in any conscience (in his words) "allow his child to fall into schism".

Ferdinand left the Pope's presence in an angry rage, swearing obscenities in a laud voice as he left the Vatican.

He was excommunicated by the Church for forcing the confirmation.

Ferdinand in exile was later reconciled to the Church after Boris, who was now an adult, was seen to accept the Orthodox faith of his own accord.

All in all hardly a praiseworthy occurrence.


defreitas

Dear Jose,

Quite right.

For Bulgaria and other kingdoms at the time, the difference between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy was one of "best political advantage" rather than doctrinal or liturgical.

Greek Catholic apologists have tended to explain the good relationship between Catholic and Orthodox royalty as an indication showing that unity wasn't really destroyed etc.

In fact, we see that even in the Reformation, people tended to follow their sovereigns as a principle of church adherence - rather than the principle of "which is the true Church."

Alex

Dear Alex,

I am still uncertain about the comment you made about Prince Philip and Prince Michael. As far as I know, there had been no report in the press [and such a major event would have been covered...I am sure Jenny Bond would have made sure she d*amn well know! ]. Philip is still an Anglican; he partakes of its Communion. He may show great interest in Orthodoxy and Mount Athos, but this does not mean that he has seen the light and (!) returned to the fold. I did find a website in the UK ran by a ROCOR priest in Felixstowe and frankly, that wasn't particularly nice, seeing the vehement criticisms pouring out of him, especially towards the venerable +Anthony.

Anton

Do you mean Met. Antonii?

Fr Andrew Pillips has written much that is sentimental slush and shouldn't be taken too seriously. His appraisal of Patriarch nikon, of sorry-memory, was an absolute joke.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

Yes Father...'tis him.

I hope that you did not think I was implying anything bad about ROCOR! That's one good thing about doing hisotry; it makes one vey even-headed when it comes to conflicting ideas. I still don't like Thomas Becket but I do see some of his points....

Xhristos Voshreshi

Anton

Voistinnu voskrese!

I'm all for judging ideas and theories on their merits - and those merits supercede jurisdiction. Let's call a brick a brick, whether it a patriarchal, ROCOR, Nikonian or Old Believer brick - and all walls sometimes need repointing!

Do you know how Patriarch Alexei's proposals for an autonomous, united Russian Orthodox Metropolia of Westen Europe have been greeted by the faithful of Sourozh and the Patriarchate in general?

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.