By Hellenioscope’s Editorial Team
In mid-October 2025, the stillness of Mount Athos was broken by the arrival of Epiphany Dumenko, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. His four-day visit — during which he was received by six of the twenty ruling monasteries — stirred deep unrest across the Holy Mountain. To some, his presence marked an act of reconciliation within Orthodoxy; to others, it was a grievous violation of sacred order. Many Athonites viewed Dumenko’s participation in liturgies at Xenophontos and other monasteries as the intrusion of a schismatic into the heart of monastic purity.
In the days that followed, a group of Athonite cell monks issued a fiery declaration: every abbot and hieromonk who concelebrated with Dumenko, they wrote, should be cut off from communion with the rest of Athos until they repent. They accused those who welcomed him of bringing “spiritual contamination” to the Mountain and betraying the canons that have guarded it for centuries. Even the small crowds that greeted Dumenko, the monks noted, showed how the majority of the monastic community rejected his visit.
Thus, what was meant as a pilgrimage became a test of conscience. The Holy Mountain — long a symbol of Orthodox unity and spiritual discipline — now finds itself divided, its silence pierced by questions of legitimacy, obedience, and faithfulness to tradition. Whether these wounds will heal through repentance or deepen into lasting division remains uncertain.
===================
Athonites who served with Dumenko should be excommunicated, cell monks write
Mt. Athos, October 20, 2025Xenophontos was among the Athonite monasteries that allowed the unordained schismatic Dumenko to serve. Photo: pomisna.info
Athonite abbots and hieromonks who celebrated with the schismatic Epiphany Dumenko during his recent visit to the Holy Mountain should be cut off from concelebrations with the monasteries who remain firm in Orthodoxy until they repent, say a group of monks representing the cells of Mt. Athos.
The Holy Mountain is home to twenty ruling monasteries, each of which has a series of smaller sketes and cells under their authority.
During its four-day visit, the schismatic delegation visited six of the twenty monasteries: New Esphigmenou, Iveron, Stavronikita, Xenophontos, Pantocrator, and Simonopetra.
In their new statement, the cell monks emphasize that Dumenko and his group are schismatics, outside the Church, and thus it violates the canons of the Church and the ethos of Mt. Athos to celebrate with them, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
“The schismatic-heretical Uniate Mr. Epiphany Dumenko, celebrating Liturgy (at the Chapel of the Most Holy Theotokos) on Mt. Athos… oh… what spiritual degradation…!!!” the monks write.
They emphasize that the majority of the Sacred Community (the monastic body that represents Mt. Athos) voted against formally receiving Dumenko (as is customary for Orthodox primates), as evidenced by the handful of people that came out to welcome him when he arrived on the Holy Mountain. However, those that did greet him and serve with him committed an impermissible sin and bear responsibility for bringing his “spiritual contamination” to the holy site.
They will have to give an account before the Dread Judgment seat of Christ, the monks write.
The statement informs that the capital of Mt. Athos, Karyes, was sealed off by secret security services because they feared that monks would come and protest the visit of the graceless schismatic. This fact also refutes Dumenko’s claim that he came “as a simple monk,” the Athonites write.
Moreover, he is a blasphemer, the monks write, who blesses the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the desecration of holy relics.
Dumenko and his affiliates act like “NEO-NAZIS,” the monks state.
Thankfully, the majority of Athonite monasteries and monastics refused to have anything to do with Dumenko, but now they are “duty-bound to place all the Athonite abbots and hieromonks who participated in excommunication. They should not be received at any Athonite service until they show practical repentance,” the cell monks exhort, recalling that Christ will spit out the lukewarm.
This is exactly how all the saints would have reacted. Mt. Athos is the heart of Orthodoxy. When all the monasteries in Mt. Athos will celebrate Liturgy with schismatics, Mt. Athos will stop existing. We have trembling stories of what monks endured during persecutions, and they rather chose to die than betray their faith. May God protect those that stood firm in their faith and didn’t play liturgy with defrocked “priests”.
But will this actually be done?
Doubtful for now. But just proposing it puts the faith and its canons back on it’s foundation.
Fathers of Mount Athos,
We weak ones have always looked up to you
To keep us on the right path to salvation
Please don’t abandon us.
We are struggling in a tough world.
And please don’t abandon Metropolitan Onuphrios.
“Mount Athos belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has been in communion with the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine since its establishment on December 15, 2018. Any opposition expressed is merely the personal opinion of individuals, often motivated by foreign influences and cloaked under the pretext of obedience to the Holy Canons. However, those truly familiar with the Holy Canons and the tradition of the Church understand that other interests lie behind such reactions.”
https://orthodoxtimes.com/hieromonk-nikitas-of-pantokrator-monastery-comments-on-the-visit-of-metropolitan-of-kyiv-to-mount-athos/
“Other interests”? How about the 20+ million dollars given to Bartholomew to grant autocephaly, while he previously recognized Moscow’s jurisdiction on Ukraine? P-lease…
The late Archbishop Anastasios of Albania called for a Church council to discuss and rule on Ukraine. If the supporters of Patriarch Bartholomew’s actions are so confident that his actions were right why the refusal to convene a council? Why did these supporters not attend the gathering in Amman hosted by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2020?
No one outside Patriarch Bartholomew’s Churches supports the OCU.
And I say yet again, you never cease to entertain us, Joseph. (By the way, Mt. Athos belongs to the Most Holy Theotokos, not wanna be Cardinal Bartholomew!)
Joesph, what planet are you on? Patriarchs are monks, they do not have any possessions. I never heard of a patriarch saying something belongs to them! Nothing belongs to them! They took an oath. Please be more selective in what you read. You are brainwashing yourself. Stop reading this garbage! There is no Autocephalous Church of Ukraine. OCU does not meet the criteria for an Autocephalous Church. It is a schismatic structure like other schismatic structures and the most violent.
Joseph,
Do you know what a Schism looks like, or what it constitutes? Do you understand what happens naturally in a Schism?
How can you talk about Canons and simultaneously defend a Patriarch and his followers who violate them all the time, and who should have been “defrocked” years ago if the Canons were actually being observed?
Pick a side and stick to it instead of flip-flopping in public…if you are for “absolute Canonical Order”, then you have to start calling for the hierarchs to either observe the Canons themselves IMMEDIATELY so that Church harmony is restored, or for the hierarchs (and all clergy) be deposed when they violate them just as the Canons call for…(plenty of examples of “removal-worthy” violations have been cited on this blog for years…no need to reiterate the long list).
Otherwise, realize how ridiculous you appear when trying to speak out of “both sides of your mouth” like this, displaying the art of “selective Protestant pseudo-theology” (totally ignoring one set of Canons while pointing at only another set in this case)…we aren’t that stupid to buy your propaganda…
Thank you to all the abbotts and heirmonks who faithfully follow the church canons put in place, as they held their ground and continue to fight against this heresy. This was a test and the opposition failed miserably…
FYI, no need to worry about anything, dumenko visited Mt. Athos as a “humble monk”. This clown doesn’t know what humble people do not say they are humble. I never read about a saint saying he is a humble monk. This guy is such a joke!
https://spzh.eu/en/zashhita-very/88673-a-humble-monk-in-a-bishops-mantle-whats-behind-dumenkos-visit-to-athos