ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ

By Helleniscope’s Editorial Team

The visit of the schismatic Met. Epiphanius of Ukraine to Mt.Athos landed on old fault lines that have run through the Holy Mountain since the 2018 Tomos for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). In the week before Epiphanius arrived, Greek church outlets primed readers for friction: several Athonite monasteries—especially those under strong Slavic/Russian influence—were said to be planning to boycott official receptions, even if the Athonite authorities (the Holy Community) kept to protocol and received the delegation. But after the – characteristically divisive – “greetings” by the contrarian Pat. Bartholomew’s address to Zelensky with the Ukro-Nazi “Slava Ukraini” at the U.N. a few weeks ago made the picture of polarization clear.

Inside Athos: protocol vs. polarization

On the ground, the Holy Community received the OCU primate according to rank, but the climate was unmistakably split. Greek coverage emphasized that a significant number of monasteries do not recognize him as primate, a stance that shaped absences and cool receptions in some quarters. One widely shared framing claimed “16 monasteries” still reject the OCU recognition; whether or not the exact count is current, it captures the lived polarization that Athonites themselves acknowledge.

Greek media’s “two stories”

Greek mainstream and church press effectively offered two parallel stories. One, that the visit was a standard pilgrimage with warm receptions at particular houses (e.g., Xenophontos, where the Sunday liturgy was celebrated). The other, that it unfolded “amid reactions”—a test of Athonite cohesion under geopolitical and ecclesiastical pressure. The contrast between celebratory photo-spreads and headlines about “tension” and “disputed visit” reveals how contested Athonite consensus has become.

Beyond Athos: the long shadow of 2018

Outside Athos, the visit was read through the lens of the Moscow–Constantinople rupture: since 2018, the Russian Church has treated communion with OCU clergy as schismatic, and has pressured Athos (informally and financially) to align with Moscow’s stance. That long-running campaign—documented soon after the break and still invoked today—formed the backdrop for claims that “Russian-leaning” monasteries would sit out receptions and liturgies.

Information war meets pilgrimage politics

Greek and diaspora commentary explicitly cast the trip as more than devotional—as an incremental normalization of the OCU in Hellenic ecclesial spaces, using Athos’s moral capital. Conversely, outlets hostile to the OCU (and to Epiphanius personally) amplified allegations of illegitimacy (“acheirotónitos/unordained”), signaling that delegitimization narratives remain active across the Greek-language sphere.

New stakes: Ukrainian presence on Athos

One new wrinkle this year: reports that Epiphanius blessed the restoration of a Ukrainian pilgrimage locus on Athos and met Ukrainian pilgrims there. To supporters, that’s pastoral care for a historic connection; to critics, it looks like institutionalizing an OCU footprint on the Mountain—another front in the contest over who speaks for Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

Aftermath: no rupture, but no closure

By Sunday’s liturgy, nothing broke—no new bans, no public Athonite censure. Yet nothing healed either. The visit re-surfaced, rather than resolved, the split reality: Athos continues to observe Constantinople’s line officially, while robust monastic networks—Greek and Slavic—live another. In the wider Orthodox world, reactions mapped exactly onto existing ecclesial alignments; the Mountain remains a mirror, not the mediator, of Orthodoxy’s post-2018 division.

October 14, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com   www.helleniscope.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author. This article represents the opinion of the author and shall not be interpreted as legal advice.

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Sources

• OrthodoxTimes (EN): “Tensions rise on Mount Athos ahead of visit by Metropolitan Epiphaniy of Kyiv.” Orthodox Times (en)

• emakedonia.gr (GR): “Άγιον Όρος: Αντιδράσεις και παρασκήνιο για την τριήμερη επίσκεψη” (skepticism; non-recognition by many monasteries). emakedonia.gr

• Βήμα Ορθοδοξίας (GR): “Αγιορειτική δοκιμασία… η επίσκεψη που άναψε φωτιές / 16 μονές…” (editorial framing of divisions). ΒΗΜΑ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΙΑΣ News+1

• Newsbomb.gr (GR): program & symbolism narrative around the Athos visit. Newsbomb

• Orthodoxostypos (GR): hostile characterization (“acheirotónitos”), illustrating delegitimization narratives. Ορθόδοξος Τύπος

• Helleniscope (EN/GR audience): “Controversial Visit To Mt. Athos” (geopolitical reading of the trip). Helleniscope

• Backgrounder—Wikipedia (neutral digest with sources): reactions to the 2018 schism; pressure vectors on Athos. Wikipedia