Esfigmenou Monastery: A 50-year-old problem – State and Police raise their hands

By Marina Zioziou

And suddenly the news appeared Esfigmenou Monastery. We have read “snarky” headlines, such as the imminent intervention of EL.AS. in the Mount Athos. Some even spoke of bloodshed in the Athonian State. And then we all woke up together and switched sides…

Suddenly, a scenario was presented of the intervention of the Hellenic Police, a large number of police officers and heavy vehicles in the “Parivoli tis Panagia”, in order to execute a court decision and to remove the zealots of the Monastery of Esfigmenou. The matter also concerned the Holy Community of Mount Athos, which “threw”… the ball to the State, characterizing the request of the Police as “vague”.

Let’s start things from the beginning. The Esphimenite issue has plagued Mount Athos – and not only – for more than 50 years. The topic is known how it started, but let’s recall it again. The monks who abandon it do not recognize or commemorate him Ecumenical Patriarch as the spiritual leader of the monastic state as is the case with the rest of the monasteries of Athos.

The “holy feud” has lasted since 1972 and the occasion was the meeting of the then Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras with the then Pope Paul VI and the lifting of the anathemas, which were made earlier, which was considered by the old calendar monks as a “betrayal” of Orthodoxy.

So, therefore, the zealous monks of Esfigmenou stopped commemorating Patriarch Athenagoras and those after him (Demetrius and Bartholomeus), they closed themselves – in fact they have now been buried – in the monastery and refuse to leave it. This story continued with the severance of the Esphimenites from the normal order that applies on Mount Athos, i.e. their expulsion from the “body” of the Holy Community with all that entails.

About twenty years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the Double Holy Synod of Mount Athos – (the third organ in the “Garden of the Virgin Mary”) – declared them schismatics, so the State should proceed with the removal of the deserters from the central building complex Monastery, as well as its accessories (Sketi, Cells, Huts, Silent Rooms, Seats).

It is worth noting that the characterization of persons such as “schismatics”has particular importance for Mount Athos, because it is strictly forbidden to abandon schismatics (and heterodox) there, as defined by the Charter of Mount Athos.

Mount Athos is a self-governing part of the Greek territory, which is governed in accordance with the Charter and the relevant laws of the Greek State (Article 105). The Ecumenical Patriarch is the competent bishop of Mount Athos (previously it was Ierissou) and the Athonite monks must commemorate him in the holy services. And this was not what the Esphigmenite monks did for about 50 years.

In 2002, Mount Athos, the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the competent authorities of the Greek State established a new brotherhood of the Esphimenou Monastery and disowned the brotherhood that was abandoning the Esphimenou Monastery because it refused to submit to the canonical order.

With this logic, there are not two fraternities for the Monastery of Esfigmenou, but only one, as in every monastery of Agioreita. The Espighmenite monastic brotherhood has an abbot, Archimandrite Bartholomew, and is fully recognized by the Holy Community of Mount Athos, by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and by the Greek State. The brotherhood of Esfigmenou Monastery is temporarily based in Karyes, in a newly built building.

The “molotov shrines”

Also, who can forget the ruckus they had caused in the international community the “holy molotovs” which had been dropped by the zealots, in July 2023, from the disputed konaki. And to end the matter: There are dozens of judicial decisions against the squatters of the Monastery of Esfigmenos and in favor of the canonical brotherhood, under Abbot Bartholomeus. Despite the court decisions, no government to date – and the pressure of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – has dared, for purely ecclesiastical and political reasons, to execute the final decisions of the courts.

The zealous monks of Esfimenou, who exceed 80 monks, are “fortified” behind a possible bad turn of events, which may even cause death and discredit Mount Athos. Of course, for those who know things well, a more essential question arises: What is the relationship of these monks to the Russian factor? This is an issue that we will be looking at thoroughly in the near future.

Let us hope that a sober way out of the problem will prevail, without, however, giving any more scope for amnesty to the schismatic monks.