A HISTORIC PHOTO: Monks living in “sketes” took the arms and chased away the Bulgarian invaders of Athos in Moni Zografou in 1912-13. (See more on these historic events by linking here)
By Markos (Helleniscope’s Commentator On Religious Issues)
While it is true that some individuals on Mt. Athos hide behind a monastic façade and shouldn’t really be there (polluting the mountain), it should ultimately be the monastic community that decides who stays and who goes. Fortunately, to date, the majority of this community has not consented to an eviction of the monks at Esphigmenou, not because there isn’t a real ecclesiastical problem going on, but more because of the precedent it would set.
At the same time, what happens when corruption and schism start infiltrating the governing council of the mountain itself, creating “two camps” that oppose each other (remember the biblical phrase…a house divided against itself cannot stand)? What does the “legitimacy” of one monk over another monk mean in those cases, depending on which “faction” of the “schism” has more votes on that council? And of course, by “schism”, we mean examples of 7 monasteries voting in favor of sending a delegation to Epiphanios’ “enthronement” and 13 voting against (followed by concelebrations with Epiphanios – violations of that vote by those “Athonite agents of Constantinople”) which resulted in some conservative monasteries to maintain a list of those athonite hieromonks “not worthy” to celebrate at their monastery (schism), as well as in recent prior years those monasteries that either “accepted funds from the EU” (possibly signing concessions we don’t know about to government officials / were involved in shady land deals with Cypriot offshore companies- e.g. Ephraim of Vatopedi’s well-known past legal troubles), or if they “resisted” any monetary assistance.
But even in history, there has been trouble on Mt. Athos with political undertones… We wrote in the past (and now there is actually a book about him) how Elder Daniel (the 1st original geronta of the “Δανηιλαιοι” monastics) was imprisoned by the corrupt Patriarch of Constantinople in the 1890s/early 1900s when he dared to complain about increasing arrival (and takeover) of St. Panteleimon’s monastery (and other areas of the Holy Mountain) by Russian “monks” who seemed more affiliated with the Czar’s military intelligence of the time, reportedly monitoring the movements of the Ottoman navy & military. Recall that Pan-Slavism was a well-rooted idea in those times. The “Russian government offices/consulates abroad” issued stamps in the early 1900s with an overprint of each office’s location. One of those overprints (for stamp collectors interested), actually says “Mt. Athos” (in Western and Cyrillic), and it is clear that this was to prevent classified (“diplomatic”) letters from being opened by non-Russian hands along the way….
So “strong-handed” control of Mt. Athos has been high on government (and Patriarchal) agendas for a very long time, whether that control visibly involves forcing elders from Vatopedi to get on a plane to fly to a Schismatic’s “enthronement ceremony” in Kiev, or whether it potentially involves “kindly reminding” certain abbots of a past “haunting legal moment” that the Patriarch helped “smooth out” but for which the statute of limitations has NOT expired, so that they look the other way when Elpidophoros shows up to their monastery to visit, etc…
Whether, in fact, Mr. Stefanis is on the Mountain to head some “intelligence gathering operation” is not certain, but it is also not the most important of details. Greece is a “small village”, and Mt. Athos is a “much smaller village”, so it’s very hard to keep your private business secret in general in small communities…you don’t need fancy spy operations to find out what you need in those situations…sooner or later you will know, whether you wanted to know or not. That’s why the most intriguing statement in the above article is this one: Θέλουμε νὰ σᾶς γνωρίσουμε ὅτι ὅπως ἐσεῖς φροντίζετε νὰ μάθετε λεπτομέρειες γιὰ ὅλη τὴν ζωὴ τοῦ κάθε μοναχοῦ, νὰ εἶστε πολὺ σίγουρος πὼς καὶ ἐμεῖς οἱ μοναχοὶ, μὲ τὴν βοήθεια τοῦ Θεοῦ, γνωρίζουμε ὅλες τὶς λεπτομέρειες γιὰ τὸ βίο καὶ τὴν πορεία τῶν Πολιτικῶν Διοικητῶν, ἔτσι καὶ γιὰ ἐσᾶς.
…Καλὸ εἶναι, ἐπίσης, νὰ τὸ ἀντιληφθεῖτε…
It appears to be a clear, open hint/warning that the monks have obtained tangible information about some “private dirt” that can be used against Mr. Stephanis at any moment…should be interesting to see if “the buck stops here”, or if there is future escalation…
Just for some background and context, the letter appears to be signed by ΥΠΟ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΩΝ ΚΕΛΛΙΩΤΩΝ ΠΑΤΕΡΩΝ, which means the “fathers in the cells” (sketes). While technically Mt. Athos is carved up into 20 jurisdictions belonging to each of the 20 “big monasteries”, and each of the “remote/independent cells” is technically “owned” by one of the 20 “big monasteries”, sometimes affiliation between the occupants of the “cells” and the large monasteries appears to be foreign/non-existent. However, short of blatant acts of heresy/blasphemy/criminal behavior, as long as a “cell” remains “continuously occupied and operational under the general monastic spiritual rules, and as long as a successor exists and takes it over when the elder dies, the “big monasteries” typically don’t get involved much with day-to-day operations of these “monks in the remote cells”… St. Paisios was in the “cell of Panagouda” during his final years on Mt. Athos, which belonged on the books to Koutloumousiou Monastery. Whenever a “cell” is abandoned, however, the “big monastery” takes over full jurisdiction and maintenance until it is “assigned” to a new hermit-monk.
Interestingly, anywhere from 40-60% of Mt. Athos monks reside outside of “major monasteries” in these cells. A group of them signed this letter, and this same group signed multiple other letters in the past addressed to the patriarchate or the Greek government. Whether or not the abbots of the major monasteries are aware in advance of the content of these letters remains a mystery, but in general it is quite “convenient” for this group of monks to speak up on behalf of Mt. Athos, at a time when all sorts of political pressures loom over abbots of the “big monasteries”.
And for the history of Bartholomew’s “vendetta” against the “rebellious hermit cell-monks that speak out”, in the past he has threatened any “cell monk” that speaks up against him with eviction from Mt. Athos. Hence, these monks generally take that risk when they sign these documents or speak out on YouTube videos. Also, a few years ago, during the “dog days of August” in sleepy Athens, the skeletal crew of “pro-Bartholomew” hierarchs that were “keeping the Synod open for business” passed an “emergency resolution” on their own, with when nobody else was around to “forbid Mt. Athos monks from preaching anywhere in Greece, without the express permission of the Synod of the Church of Greece. These stupid restrictions are intentional and retaliatory because the Phanariotes don’t like the “voice of conscience” that these “monks from the cells” represent.
Also, for the record, though a large percentage of these “hermitage-cells” have been taken over by the old-calendarist faction called Γ.Ο.Χ., which complicates the schism blueprint on Mt. Athos (maybe 30-40% by some verbal speculation that I was told by those who know greater details). The new calendar schism of 1924 caused problems on Mt. Athos with the persistence of Γ.Ο.Χ supporting factions of monks (mainly in the cells) that still manifest 100 years later. The infiltration of Γ.Ο.Χ. supporters into Esphigmenou is the biggest ecclesiastical problem to solve long-term with that sub-topic, and not so much the baseline criticism of the Patriarchal actions and interactions with the Vatican since “Vatican 2″…Nevertheless, this letter (as well as previous ones) will not likely be signed by the Γ.Ο.Χ. folks alone. However, Mr. Stefanis may be focusing his efforts on evicting some of these individual “hermit rebel troublemakers” as easier soft targets (on behalf of and from the perspective of Constantinople), given that the early comments about Esphigmenou evictions created an uproar, provoking this open letter response. We shall see…
No peace for the monks. Please keep readers posted with future updates.