A/51/542/Add.1 English Page 17 (b) Protestant minority (i) Religion Known religion and legal recognition 71. There is no legislative text concerning the Protestant faiths. They are legal entities whose institutions are considered as belonging to the domain of private law. The question of the legal personality of the Evangelical Church has been raised in the past. In 1961, the Justice of the Peace of Katerini ruled that that Church constituted a legal entity under private law. The court of first instance of Katerini and the court of appeal of Thessaloniki decided, however, that the Evangelical Church had no legal personality. Finally, the Court of Cassation recognized the Evangelical Church as possessing legal personality under private law. 72. However, difficulties sometimes arise in respect, on the one hand, of the exemption of ministers of religion from military service and, on the other, places of worship. 73. With regard to ministers of religion, there have been reports of ministers of the Seventh Day Adventist Church being denied exemption by the Ministry of Defence because the Orthodox Church refuses to classify that Church as a known religion. Following legal proceedings, the Council of State or the Supreme Court, depending on the case, has confirmed the Seventh Day Adventist Church as a known religion and therefore entitled to have its clergymen excused from military service. However, according to the Ministry of Defence, these proceedings have to be instituted in every case, inasmuch as the court decisions recognizing the Church as a known religion have no effect in respect of third parties. 74. With regard to places of worship, applications by Protestant churches for building permits are said sometimes to be blocked because the Ministry of Education and Worship in practice follows the negative opinion of the Orthodox Church. It is claimed that the only way to get permission to build a place of worship is to institute legal proceedings and obtain a decision from the Council of State, which is costly in terms of both time and money. Religious activities and places of worship 75. With respect to applications for building permits for places of worship, Protestants are reportedly in the same position as Catholics. Recently, however, the Ministry of Education and Worship seems to have become more openminded and to have authorized the construction of a Pentecostal Church despite the objection of the local Metropolitan. 76. With regard to religious education within the school system, Protestants apparently do not ask to have Protestant religious courses introduced, but choose instead to be excused from the Orthodox courses and to conduct religious education at home. /...