Passion for Esphigmenou: What's happening on Mount Athos?

Will the Greek police storm Esphigmenou? Photo: UOJ

In recent months, the Holy Mount Athos has again attracted a lot of attention because of the complex situation with the ancient Monastery of Esphigmenou. Greek police are reportedly preparing to forcibly remove the monks of Esphigmenou, who oppose the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

There are also rumours that other monasteries on Mount Athos, such as the Russian St. Panteleimon’s, the Serbian Hilandar, the Bulgarian Zograf, and the Romanian Skete of St. John the Baptist, might face similar actions. However, other sources suggest the situation remains calm and no tough actions are expected against these monasteries. So, what is actually happening?

Historical context and reasons for the conflict

The conflict between the Esphigmenou Monastery and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has been going on for decades. The disagreements began in the early 1960s when the Pope met with Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople for a joint prayer. In response, the monks of the Esphigmenou Monastery accused the Phanar of ties with the Vatican and ecumenism and refused to commemorate the Patriarch. The Esphigmenou brethren were supported by the Holy Kinot, which decided on 13 November 1971, that "each monastery should be free to choose its course of action regarding the commemoration of the Ecumenical Patriarch."

The situation remained unchanged even when Patriarch Demetrios came to power. On 11 March 1974, he wrote a letter to the Holy Community, imposing sanctions on the monks who refused to commemorate him, including the abbot of the Esphigmenou Monastery and his supporters, and demanded their expulsion. The police cut the monastery's telephone line and set up a blockade. In response, the monks locked the gates and displayed a banner reading "Orthodoxy or Death", stating their willingness to die if the police tried to enter by force.

The conflict smouldered until 2002 when the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared the rebellious monks schismatics and demanded their expulsion from Mt Athos. In 2005, the Phanar created a parallel community, known on Mount Athos as the "New Esphigmenou". Currently, several monks from this community are based in Karyes, and their leader, Abbot Bartholomew, fully supports the initiatives of the Phanar (such as the Tomos for the OCU and vaccination), which are met with disapproval by most of the Athonite monks.

In December 2006, a well-known confrontation occurred between the monks of Esphigmenou and those attempting to take over the monastery. In June 2008, the police became involved in the conflict.

On September 24, 2009, a Thessaloniki court sentenced 14 monks, including Abbot Methodios, to one year of suspended imprisonment for refusing to leave the monastery. On April 6, 2011, the same court sentenced them to six months in prison for the "illegal occupation of monastery buildings". Since 2012, the Greek police have periodically conducted raids to storm or blockade the monastery.

However, neither then nor later were the authorities able to forcibly take the Esphigmenou "zealots" as they are called on Mount Athos. Abbot Methodios once remarked that his prayer rope, with its 300 knots, is like "300 bullets", and over the entrance to the monastery there is the now-famous black flag with the inscription "Ορθοδοξία ή θάνατος" ("Orthodoxy or Death"). The monks have no intention to surrend.

In April 2016, Abbot Methodios of the old brotherhood of Esphigmenou expressed a desire to resume participation in the work of the Holy Kinot of Mt Athos. However, during negotiations, Fr Methodios reaffirmed the old brotherhood's unwavering stance by refusing to commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Currently, the Esphigmenou brotherhood considers itself under the jurisdiction of the non-canonical Old Calendarist "True Orthodox Church of Greece", led by Archbishop Kallinikos (Sarantopoulos), and is not in Eucharistic communion (at least officially) with any Athonite monastery.

"COVID cleansing"

In recent years, the tensions have escalated once again. The pretext for removing the rebellious monks from Mt Athos was decided to be COVID. The advantage was that, under the guise of the pandemic, it was possible to remove anyone who opposed some of the controversial decisions of both the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the EU authorities in general and Greece in particular. The abbot Bartholomew of the "New Esphigmenou" Monastery was appointed as the spearhead of this effort. He first called on the hierarchs to punish unvaccinated priests, then demanded that the Greek prosecutor hold Athos monks accountable for refusing to be vaccinated against coronavirus, claiming that laypeople were forging COVID tests to visit Athos, and was pleased when the authorities started "addressing the issue" of the unvaccinated monks.

At that time, they were unable to expel the monks from Mt Athos. It all culminated in 2020 when the Greek government began to confiscate properties belonging to the Esphigmenou Monastery.

"Russian special forces" on Athos

The situation significantly worsened with the start of Russia's war against Ukraine. The war has now been chosen as the reason for expelling all undesirable monks. It was decided to replace the civil administrator of Mt Athos, Athanasios Martinos, a friend of Patriarch Bartholomew and a prominent supporter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Firstly, he failed to "cleanse" Athos during COVID.

Secondly, the Greek government believed that "the governance of the Holy Mount requires comprehensive skills, given the situation requires special attention due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Moscow and Serbian Patriarchates." Martinos did not meet these requirements. He had warm relations with the brotherhoods of all the "foreign" (non-Greek) monastic communities on Athos.

"This concerns not only the St. Panteleimon (Russian) Monastery but also the Hilandar (Serbian), Zograf (Bulgarian), and Prodromos (Romanian) Skete," said Athanasios Martinos not long ago. He also stated that "today, our thoughts are with our Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox brethren of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, and we wholeheartedly wish and pray for peace to come soon to the suffering peoples." Clearly, such a person could not be the administrator with plans to expel the monks.

Anastasios Mitsialis was appointed to this position instead of Athanasios Martinos. Mitsialis's career speaks for itself: in 1995, he became the Greek ambassador to Argentina, in 1999 – ambassador to Israel, in 2002 – head of the relations department with the US and Canada, in 2003 – Director General for Personnel, Administration, and Organization, and in 2004 – Greek ambassador to Rome. Shortly before becoming the Governor of Mt Athos, Mitsialis served as the Deputy Commander of the Greek National Intelligence Service.

Thus, Mitsialis is an intelligence officer who has worked in Israel, the USA and the Vatican. It is therefore not surprising that he immediately stated he would resolve the "Esphigmenou question". Shortly before he took office, scandalous reports began to surface about other monasteries.

For example, the German tabloid "Bild" published a large article about the "dark side" of Athos, specifically how "Moscow is trying to use Athos as a Trojan horse to establish itself in Europe and undermine the EU".

It is not surprising that in this case, as with COVID, the main "witness" for the prosecution and the spearhead against the Athonites was… Abbot Bartholomew of the "New Esphigmenou" Monastery.

In an interview with the "Bild," he accused the Russian Panteleimon Monastery of hosting Russian oligarchs who "donate money", conveniently leaving out that the same oligarchs also donate large sums to Greek monasteries. According to him, the old Esphigmenou is "occupied by Russians".

At that time, the "Bild" reported that a "thorough inspection" of people entering and leaving Mount Athos was being prepared to prevent the transportation of weapons, drugs and other illegal items, as well as other suspicious activities.

In the ‘Bild’ piece, hegumen Eulogius of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery, who was accused of having links with Greek and Russian politicians, was most strongly criticized. But it wasn't just him; Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi, Abbot Nikodemos of Philotheou (who allegedly received a gun from a Russian oligarch), and generally all monks who had any interaction with pilgrims from Russia were also targeted.

These absurd accusations escalated to the point where the Athonite monks were accused of training "Russian special forces". Nonsense, you say? Certainly. Undoubtedly. But this nonsense "works" against the Athonites just as it "works" against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In other words, the supporters of removing the rebellious monks of Esphigmenou or any monks who disagree with the "party line" have decided to use an old tactic tested in Ukraine: accusing the monks of "links with Moscow", labeling them as "agents in robes" and claiming they hide "machine guns in bell towers". And then, they can do whatever they want.

What's happening now?

The Holy Kinot of Mount Athos has already expressed its concern about the impending use of force against Esphigmenou. The monks of Athos are strongly opposed to a forceful resolution of the question and do not want to be at the center of another scandal. They are calling for peaceful dialogue and compromise to avoid further escalation of the conflict and destructive consequences for the entire Orthodox community of the Holy Mount.

At the same time, protests are already taking place in Ouranoupoli in response to the situation, and the Greek authorities cannot ignore them.

Therefore, according to rumours, the police will act very cautiously to avoid public outrage. For example, Athonite monks say that Esphigmenou monks will be detained one by one (if they are found outside the monastery gates) and sent to the mainland without the possibility of return.

We can also expect problems not only with the Esphigmenou Monastery but also the aforementioned monasteries: the Russian St. Panteleimon (where they do commemorate Patriarch Bartholomew but "without love"), the Bulgarian Zograf, the Romanian Skete of Prodromos, and the Serbian Hilandar Monastery. Here, they might start checking documents and expelling anyone with irregularities, and there are many such individuals on Athos.

There is also information that a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate is currently on Athos, holding discussions with representatives of the monasteries. It is expected that the monks will be asked to sign a "petition" intended to legitimise "unprecedented steps for the Holy Mountain" to enforce control by the police.

The resource "Russian Athens" writes that, according to their source on Athos, "a task has been set by Washington to change the status of the monastic republic". "There should be no uncontrolled center of free thought and independence in Greece. To achieve this, the last place in the country where authority belongs to the monks—the monastic republic of Mount Athos—needs to be eliminated. The first step will be the opening of a new police station, which will monitor the situation in the monastic republic, both criminal and political. Essentially, the task of the Greek authorities is to reform the monastic republic. The authorities need to remove its autonomy and independence so that everything is under control, and there are no places where even potential opponents of the authorities might reside," the source says.

According to the source, those monasteries that refuse to sign the declaration will be "targeted, and pressure will be applied to them". "As a result, Athos should become a tourist attraction, similar to the Meteora," he concluded.

Conclusions

Currently, the situation on Athos is extremely tense. The Greek authorities plan to increase police control and, under the guise of document checks, clear the monasteries of monks who disagree with the "party line".

This could potentially affect not all but most monasteries. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that nothing will happen. Anything could happen, with one caveat: it will happen not according to human will, but God's! Without His will, nothing will happen. So, all we can do is pray.

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