After the memorial service finished the Bishop of Salonica Anthimos gave a speach dedicated to the late Archbishop. Starting it he addressed in order the President of the Republic, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Heads of other Orthodox Churches who were present, the Prime Minister, the ex King (addresing him as "former King of the Hellenes" [τέως βασιλεύ των Ελλήνων]) and then the ex Presidents of the Republic who were present, and then the leaders of the opposition.
IMO this was more than appropriate, since Constantine has been the legitimate head of the state whatsoever and addressing him after the current Prime Minister was the accurate position. However a vast majority of Greek bloggers have blasted an enormous attack of rage and hatred, being the less ironic, towards Bishop Anthimos, which above all, in my opinion, is not fair to King Constantine.
Your, my or anyone's opinion on such matters does not count/matter. The funeral of the Archbishop, who had himself drawn the details, was a State affair and received honors for a sitting President. If the late Archbishop had opted for a private funeral, then Metropolitan Anthimos and other friends/relatives of the deceased could have acted as they pleased, from the ceremonial standpoint.
As a state function, however, the event had to comply with State Protocol, and the order of precedence was drawn in accordance to the Constitution. According to the Hellenic Constitution, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th citizens of Hellas are hierarchically, the President, the Prime Minister, the President of Parliament and the Leader of the Main Opposition, respectively. What the Metropolitan of Salonica did, was a bravado act and a violation of the Constitution, indicative of the Church's determination to indulge constantly in matters political and, worse, to violate frequently the tenets of the Constitution.
People are free to like/dislike, respect/disrespect former heads of state, to be royalists/republicans in spirit, but
they may not violate the Constitution. Insofar as the Hellenic Constitution is concerned, former king Constantine is a Danish private man, not a Hellene due to the fact that he refused to be at par with the citizens of the Republic by not adopting a surname, thus defying the "new" Polity. Had he accepted, as practised internationally, even the
hellenized transliteration of his official surname, that is, from
de Grecia to the
meaningless Ντε Γκρέτσια or
Δε Γρέτσια or
Δεγρέτσιας, instead of the
translation to the
meaningful της Ελλάδας [=
of Greece], he would now be a Greek citizen and, theoretically, there would be no obstacle to his receiving honors of former head of state, in chronological precedence.
Metropolitan Anthimos violated the Constitution. The Church of Greece continues to be a reactionary element of Greek society, a constant obstacle to, and decelerator of, progress. The reaction among Athenian newspapers was immense. It is now felt that the time has come for the separation of State and Church. I am not sure how many of the readers of TRF are aware that Greece is, in a way, a theocratic state, that is, it has a formal religion, Orthodox Christianity (even though the Constitution treats all religions and dogmata as equal) and the Clergy is salaried under the Civil Service, while the Church is immensely wealthy.
BTW, to those interested among you, former king Constantine did not follow the procession to the Cemetery of Athens (located dowtown, some 2 miles or less from the Athens Cathedral). According to all news agencies, immediately after the church ceremony, he returned to the Grande Bretagne Hotel and waved to the masses from the first-floor balcony, when the procession walked past the hotel. This was deemed, State Protocol and social etiquette-wise, inappropriate and was criticized by the media.
Gianna Angelopoulou had to pay a handsome fine! 
